ASHGABAT (TCA) — Foreign ministers and ambassadors of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Japan met in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, on May 1 and adopted a roadmap for cooperation in the field of transport and logistics, Xinhua reported.
“This format of multilateral cooperation has demonstrated its high efficiency and usefulness during 13-year period of its existence. It has become broader and now covers the main directions of cooperation between the Central Asian region and Japan,” local report from Ashgabat quoted Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov as saying.
The meeting between the representatives of the Central Asian region and Japan focused on further deepening of regional cooperation as well as regional security and sustainable development.
Meetings between Central Asia countries and Japan were initiated by the Japanese government in 2004 to promote dialogue between Japan and the Central Asian countries.
On the eve of the Ashgabat meeting, on April 30, Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov received Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Fumio Kishida, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan reported.
During the meeting, the Turkmen leader and the Japanese FM exchanged views on various areas of cooperation between the two countries, including multilateral partnership, specifically, within major international organizations and structures.
Fumio Kishida said that Japan expresses its full readiness to develop the established cooperation and continue efforts together with the Central Asian countries to ensure stability and sustainable development. The “Central Asia + Japan” Dialogue that is being actively developed serves as evidence to that, and Turkmenistan is currently chairing the Dialogue.
