Tashkent, Uzbekistan, March 26
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
Delegations from five Central Asian countries and Japan have discussed the prospects for cooperation in a multilateral format, Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry said.
The parties focused on collaboration in such spheres as regional security, trade and investments, development of the transportation infrastructure and logistics, as well as cultural and humanitarian spheres.
The 11th meeting of senior officials of the 'Central Asia plus Japan' dialogue held in Tokyo was attended by the officials from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Japan.
They also reviewed the preparations for the upcoming 6th meeting of foreign ministers of the dialogue to be held in Ashgabat.
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.
Edited by SI