As reported earlier, the Fourth meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs within the dialogue “Central Asia plus Japan” will be held in Tokyo, Japan, on 10 November 2012.

It is expected that ministers of foreign affairs of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Japan will attend the meeting.

During the meeting, the sides are planning to consider issues of regional cooperation, interaction of the Central Asian states with Japan in such areas as environment, healthcare, energy, trade and investment, regional security, as well as joint statement, affirming new approaches to cooperation within the Dialogue.

The participants will also consider issues of rational use and management of water-energy resources, development of transit-transport potential of the region, rehabilitation of environment of the region, introduction of new energy saving technologies and development of renewable energy.

The dialogue “Central Asia plus Japan” was initiated by then Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi in August 2004 at the time of the visit to Central Asia.