Japan to Hold 1st Summit with 5 Central Asian Countries

Tokyo, Dec. 17 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government will hold the first summit meeting with five Central Asian countries in Tokyo for two days from Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara announced Wednesday.

Through the meeting with her counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi aims to expand Japan's collaboration with those resource-rich nations for stronger supply chains, people familiar with the matter said.

The six-way summit will be held as part of the "Central Asia plus Japan" dialogue initiative Tokyo launched in 2004 to forge ties with the former Soviet republics. Foreign ministers of the six countries have already held talks under the initiative.

The Takaichi administration also wants to evolve relations with the five nations, which historically have strong ties with not only Russia but China, to maintain and reinforce the rule-based international order.

Calling the Central Asian countries "strategically important partners," Kihara said, "We hope mutually beneficial relations become stronger."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]