Mirziyoyev to visit Japan

Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is expected to visit Japan. On November 27, his eldest daughter, Saida Mirziyoeva, Head of the Presidential Administration, met with Japan’s new ambassador to Uzbekistan, Kenji Hirata, to discuss preparations for the President’s upcoming visit.

During the meeting, the need to enrich the bilateral agenda was emphasized.

“I expressed my gratitude to the Japanese government for supporting our educational and medical projects, as well as cultural initiatives, including exhibitions in Osaka and Tokyo,” Saida Mirziyoeva wrote on her social media page.

Japanese media report that Tokyo is preparing to host the first summit involving five Central Asian countries—Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. The summit is expected to take place in mid-December in Tokyo.

The initial summit was planned to be held in Kazakhstan in August last year. However, it was postponed at the last minute due to warnings of a potentially strong earthquake in Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes this summit will create new opportunities to deepen relations with resource-rich countries, strengthen economic security, and expand cooperation across areas such as decarbonization technologies and infrastructure development.

For context, several other Central Asia-focused summits were held this year: the first “Central Asia – European Union” summit in Samarkand on April 4; the “Central Asia – Italy” summit in Astana on May 30; the second “Central Asia – China” summit in Astana on June 17; the second “Central Asia – Russia” summit in Dushanbe on October 9; and the second “Central Asia – USA” summit in Washington on November 6.