Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and acting Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Friday to hold a bilateral summit at an early date, the Kyodo News service reported.

Obuchi and Putin reached the agreement during a telephone conversation, the first between the two leaders since Putin was appointed as acting Russian president following President Boris Yeltsin's resignation on December 31, last year.

The two leaders agreed to hold the bilateral summit before Japan hosts the Group of Eight (G-8) summit of major nations in July in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, the report quoted government sources as saying.

Putin told Obuchi that Russia will maintain its policy of developing ties with Japan, adding he will continue efforts to conclude a peace treaty and succeed agreements made by Yeltsin and Japanese leaders.

In a letter sent to Obuchi on Monday, Putin said Russia-Japan ties remain high on a list of Moscow's priorities.

Japan hopes the forthcoming summit will provide fresh momentum to a 1997 accord hammered out by Yeltsin and then Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto at an informal summit in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk.

Under the accord, both sides pledged to strive toward resolvinga long-standing bilateral territorial dispute and conclude a peace treaty by the end of 2000. (Xinhua)