The Sixth Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue

December 1, 2011
Japanese

(Photo)The Sixth Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue-2

On Thursday, December 1, the Sixth Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) of the "Central Asia plus Japan" Dialogue was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The overview of the meeting is as follows:

At the opening session, Dr. Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, made an opening address in which he referred to the significance of Central Asia for Japan, and other issues. In addition, the participants identified the importance of concrete measures based on the shared recognition that intra-regional cooperation is important for the stability and development of this region as a whole.
Alongside reviewing the cooperative projects Japan has implemented in the Central Asia region, at the first session in-depth opinion exchanges on the future direction of cooperation took place with regard to the environment, energy-conservation and renewable energy, and on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), from the viewpoint of ensuring the economic development and prosperity of this region as a whole. Similarly, at the second session the participants exchanged opinions on regional cooperation that will also contribute to the stability of Afghanistan, and on disaster prevention cooperation, from the viewpoint of ensuring the peace and stability of the region as a whole. Opinions were also exchanged on strengthening trade and economic relationships between Japan and Central Asia.
In the wrap-up session the participants arrived at the common recognition that based on the day’s discussions, each Central Asian country and Japan will continue to cooperate closely while coordinating with one another in order to promote concrete cooperation toward the success of the Fourth Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue, which will be held in Tokyo in the fall of 2012.

(*The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

(END)