Today Uzbekistan and Japan are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. The exchange of letters in 26 January 1992 between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries marked the beginning of fruitful cooperation between the countries.
Japan is Uzbekistan’s important strategic partner. Bilateral ties have been consistently strengthening on the basis of the Joint Statement on Friendship, Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement of 29 July 2002, as well as the joint statement on deepening and expanding strategic partnership of October 25, 2015, Jahon IA reported.
Active political dialogue at the highest level, based on trust, openness and mutual respect, contributes to the deepening of cooperation between the two countries. In particular, the first official visit of President Islam Karimov in February 2011 to Japan and the official visit of Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe to our country in October 2015 raised the relations between the countries to a higher level and have enriched them with new content.
The inter-parliamentary relations have also demonstrated positive dynamics. Within Japan’s legislative body there is a Japanese Parliamentary League of Friendship with Uzbekistan and the League of Friendship: Japan’s Democratic Party - Uzbekistan. In its turn, in our country there is the inter-parliamentary group "Oliy Majlis - Parliament of Japan."
Along with this, consultations between the foreign ministries of the two countries have been held on a regular basis, with the 16th round taking place on March 24, 2016 in Tokyo.
The economic affairs and trade is an important component of bilateral relations. In 9 months of 2016, the trade turnover reached $ 200 million. In Uzbekistan, there are 13 representative offices of Japanese companies and 10 joint ventures, including Isuzu, Itochu, Toyota Tsusho, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, JOGMEC (Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation).
Currently, Japan is one of the largest investors into Uzbekistan’s economy. The country offices of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) assist to the establishment of contacts between the countries’ business and public entities and provide grants and technical assistance. The total amount of funding in Uzbekistan amounts to over 4.1 billion US dollars.
Through Japan's financial and technical assistance a number of socially important and infrastructure projects in healthcare, education, energy, transport, telecommunications and other areas have been implemented in Uzbekistan. Among the current projects - “Electrification of the Karshi to Termez railway”, “Expansion of Navoi TPP, phase II”, “Modernization of Talimarjan TPP", "Construction of Turakurgan TPP", "Building the capacity of power industry" and "Amu-Bukhara Irrigation System Rehabilitation".
The cultural and humanitarian ties between Uzbekistan and Japan have also been consistently expanding. More than 2 thousand Uzbek specialists have passed training courses in Japan in business, banking and finance, agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, management, health care, law and tourism programs. As part of the Japanese government scholarships scheme every year 15 Uzbek students study in the best Japanese universities.
After a quarter of a century of close relations Uzbekistan and Japan entered a new stage of maturity and stability. Through the common efforts, the countries are looking forward to further advancing the long-term and multifaceted cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries.
