Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Nov.25
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
Delegations of five Central Asian countries and Japan discussed the prospects for cooperation in agriculture, transport and logistics, Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.
The sides also discussed the implementation of projects in these spheres by attracting modern Japanese technologies within the "Central Asia plus Japan" dialogue.
The talks were held during the 10th meeting of the senior officials of the dialogue at the level of deputy foreign ministers in Ashgabat.
Official representatives of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Japan attended the event.
During the meeting, the participants emphasized the necessity of boosting the cooperation in ensuring regional security and sustainable development, stimulating the trade and investments and disaster prevention.
These spheres were named as top priorities of cooperation during the previous meeting of the foreign ministers.
The sides focused on expanding the trade and economic relations and discussed the possibilities of attracting Japanese investments to the economies of the participants of "Central Asia plus Japan" dialogue, implementation of new joint projects and investment programs.
Japan initiated the format of cooperation with Central Asian countries - "Central Asia plus Japan" dialogue in 2004 in order to increase the efforts on expanding and strengthening close ties with these countries.
In the same year, foreign ministers of the participating countries signed the joint statement which defined the principles of this dialogue - respect for diversity, competition and open cooperation.
The dialogue envisages five main areas of cooperation between Central Asian countries and Japan: political dialogue, intraregional cooperation, promotion of business, intellectual dialogue, cultural and humanitarian dialogue.
It is planned to hold the next meeting of senior officials of the "Central Asia plus Japan" dialogue in 2016 in Tokyo.
Edited by SI
