Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, hoping to make progress on economic cooperation on a group of islands that the countries have disputed over for decades.

The meeting comes just two days after US President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled next month's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

In a speech at a business forum in St Petersburg on Friday, Abe stressed the importance of bilateral cooperation in the denuclearization of North Korea.

Abe and Putin are expected to agree to speed up preparations for joint economic projects on the Russian-administered Kuril Islands, which Japan also claims and calls its Northern Territories.

Little progress has been made since the two leaders agreed in December 2016 to begin discussing projects on the islands.

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Abe and Putin are likely to agree on new projects in line with what they proposed in 2016 and including healthcare, energy and urban development, Japan's Kyodo News wire reported, citing unnamed Japanese government sources.

Soviet troops seized the islands in the closing days of World War II, forcing 17,000 Japanese residents to leave.

The territorial dispute has prevented Japan and Russia from concluding a post-war peace treaty. (dpa)