MOSCOW, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Japan will continue dialogue and develop bilateral relations while retaining their differences on the decades-old territorial dispute, top government officials of the two countries said here Monday.

    "We have not heard any concrete idea as to how this issue should be resolved," Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told a press conference in Moscow after talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

    Moscow and Tokyo have been striving to reach a peace treaty to officially end hostilities after World War II, which ended in 1945. The treaty, however, has been blocked by conflicting claims over four islands.

    "We have agreed to continue a serious dialogue. The goal is to find a final mutually acceptable solution," Lavrov said.

    He added that this was the task set by the leaders of the two countries.

    Such talks were "intensive and painstaking work," which must also reflect the public mood, but "both parties are determined to move forward," Lavrov said.

    A Russian-Japanese summit is slated for July when Russia's next president Dmitry Medvedev attends a G-8 summit in Japan, where he is expected to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Lavrov said.

    The territorial dispute over the four islands off Hokkaido has been a long-standing stumbling block in the development of relations between Russia and Japan.

    The islands are now known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. They were occupied by Soviet troops after the end of World War II and are currently under Russian control.