Europe

1. On June 16, the 14th Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue was held online. Mr. TOKUDA Shuichi, Special Representative in charge of Central Asia (Ambassador), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and vice-ministers of foreign affairs of five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) participated in this meetng.
2. At the meeting, the participants shared the outcomes of cooperation activities after the Foreign Ministers’ Special Video Conference of the "Central Asia plus Japan" dialogue last August such as a medical expert meeting on infectious disease measures (organized by the Medical Excellence Japan (MEJ)), the Central Asia Virtual EXPO (CAVEX) (organized by the Japan Association for Trade with Russia & NIS (ROTOBO)) for promoting economic exchange, and the 6th expert meeting of ”Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue on clean energy. They also exchanged their views on possibilities of cooperation in the fields such as health and medical care against the spread of Covid-19, trade and economy, transportation, connectivity, infrastructure, tourism, agriculture, and regional security.
3. The participants also had a discussion on the agenda of the next Foreign Ministers' Meeting to be held in Japan and future directions of the Dialogue, and concurred to proceed with preparatory work for the Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

The “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue was launched in August 2004 as a framework for dialogue and cooperation between Japan and the five Central Asian countries. Japan has supported regional cooperation in Central Asia through this Dialogue based on the belief that in order for Central Asia to develop as an open and stable region, it is essential for countries in the region to deal with common challenges together.
Under the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue framework, 7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting face-to-face (and 1 meeing online) , 14 Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) , 11 intellectual dialogue (Tokyo Dialogue) , 6 experts’ meetings.

Mr. Marat SYZDYKOV, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Mr. Azizbek MADMAROV, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic
Mr. Khusrav NOZIRI, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan
Mr. Vepa HAJIYEV, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan
Mr. Furkat SIDIKOV, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Republic of Uzbekistan