Uzbek prime minister visits Japan for talks on aid, Afghan situation


Russian news agency ITAR-TASS
December 3

The Afghanistan situation and prospects for Japanese economic aid to Uzbekistan are in the focus of the official visit by Uzbek Prime Minister Otkir Sultonov to Tokyo, which began on Monday [3 December].

Sultanov is to have talks with Japanese Premier Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday and meet with Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Wednesday.

The officials will exchange views on way to stabilize the situation in Central Asia and discuss in detail economic relations between Uzbekistan and Japan.

Uzbekistan is the first among the former Soviet republics in Central Asia for the volume of state economic aid provided by Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials told ITAR-TASS. Since 1995, Tashkent has received 312,400,000 dollars.

The second is Kyrgyzstan which has received more than 241,000,000, and the third is Kazakhstan - almost 222,000,000 dollars.