The 12th Senior Officials’ Meeting of The Central Asia plus Japan Dialogue is taking place in Dushanbe today.
According to the Tajik MFA information department, delegations of Tajikistan (led by First Deputy Foreign Minister Nizomiddin Zohidi), Kazakhstan (led head of one of departments of Kazakh MFA), Kyrgyzstan (First Deputy Foreign Minister Dinara Kemeleva), Turkmenistan (le by Deputy Foreign Minister Vepa Khajiyev), Uzbekistan (led by Deputy Foreign Minister Saidikrom Niyazkhojayev) and Japan (led by Ambassador Toshihiro Aiki, Special Representative in charge of Central Asia, Japan MFA) are participating in the meeting.
The Senior Officials’ Meeting is part of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue. Representatives from each country meet to discuss the current situation of regional cooperation and future issues.
The Eleventh Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue took place in Tokyo on March 25, 2016.
The Central Asia plus Japan Dialogue is a political initiative between Japan and the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, with the goal to create “a new framework for cooperation, thereby elevating relations between Japan and Central Asia to a new level.” The dialogue, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, is also meant to serve as a forum to promote inter-regional cooperation. Turkmenistan, maintaining its policy of neutrality, participates only as an observer.
The dialogue was formally declared on August 28, 2004 in Astana, Kazakhstan at a meeting of foreign ministers from the four participating Central Asian governments and Japan. A joint statement was issued which outlined the parties’ views on four areas: fundamental principles and values, expansion of Japanese-Central Asian relations, intra-regional cooperation within Central Asia, and cooperation in the international arena. The joint statement also outlined several areas of potential Japanese-Central Asian cooperation.
