Oriented on making people closer

On Tuesday, July 23, the Foreign Ministry of Japan hosted a meeting between Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and the ambassadors of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan accredited in Tokyo.

The diplomats discussed the organization of the first “Central Asia + Japan” Summit, which will be held in Astana in August 2024. Along with this, the parties discussed current topics of interaction between the five countries and Japan in the political, diplomatic, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres. According to the general opinion of the meeting participants, the high-level Summit will give significant impetus to further enhance six-party cooperation.

Central Asia is a region of geopolitical significance and an important partner of Japan, Minister Kamikawa said and noted that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue, which became the first such format. Japan hopes for further cooperation so that the first summit will serve as a historic opportunity for significant advancement of relations between the Dialogue countries, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a press release. СA+ Format

The Central Asia Plus Japan Dialogue was launched in 2004 to promote regional cooperation. The first meeting of foreign ministers took place in Kazakhstan in August of the same year. In Ashgabat, in May 2017, there was the sixth meeting of ministers, and the last, 9th meeting of foreign ministers was held in Tokyo in December 2022.

Following Japan, other key players also launched this format of negotiations with the states of the Central Asian region. In one institutional form or another, the “Central Asia Plus” dialogue is conducted by the Republic of Korea, the USA, Russia, China, India, as well as the EU. In 2023, the first Germany-Central Asia summit was held.

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Photo: mfa.gov.tm