The Third “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue/Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM)

December 14, 2007

Five Central Asian countries and Japan held the third Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue on December 13 (Thu) in Dushanbe (Tajikistan).

So far two Foreign Ministers’ meetings and two Senior Officials’ meetings were held within the framework of “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue which was established in August 2004. Delegations from Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) were led by vice-foreign-minister or director-general-level. Turkmenistan’s Ambassador to Tajikistan also attended the meeting. The Japanese delegation was led by Mr. Keiichi Katakami, Special Representative in charge of Central Asia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Deputy Director-General of the European Affairs Bureau), and consisted of officials of the Ministry and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

At the meeting, the participants reviewed the progress of the “Action Plan” that was adopted at the second Foreign Ministers’ meeting of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue held in June last year in Tokyo, and exchanged views on further cooperation that may contribute to the promotion of intra-regional cooperation among the countries of Central Asia.

The participants also confirmed the importance of holding the third Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue and agreed to coordinate its schedule and venue through diplomatic channels.

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