Kazakh FM, ex-Prime Minister of Japan met in Astana
ASTANA. May 4. KAZINFORM Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Kazykhanov has met today with head of the Japanese Parliamentary League of Friendship with Kazakhstan, ex-Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama who arrived in our country for the IV Astana Economic Forum, Kazinform refers to the press service of the Kazakh MFA.
Opening the meeting the Kazakh Minister expressed condolences to Japan upon the recent devastating earthquake and tsunami which killed many people.
In turn, Y. Hatoyama thanked the President and people of Kazakhstan for the humanitarian assistance.
Touching upon the issues of bilateral cooperation Y. Kazykhanov and Y. Hatoyama agreed on importance of further expansion of close cooperation. It was noted that the official visit of President N. Nazarbayev to Japan in 2008 proved that both countries had huge potential for cooperation and new prospects in various spheres.
One of these spheres is peaceful use of nuclear energy. In this view the parties noted importance of the bilateral agreement of peaceful use of nuclear energy to be enacted on May 6. Further implementation of the agreements between Kazatomprom Kazakh National Company and Japan's Sumitomo and Toshiba on establishment of joint enterprises in nuclear industry and rare metals sector was discussed.
Speaking on interaction in trade-economic sphere the parties agreed on necessity of further development and strengthening the regulatory-legal framework of the bilateral relations. As is known, the volume of mutual trade between the two countries has reached USD 1 bln and there is significant potential for increasing it.
As for cooperation within the international structures in resolution of the global problems, Y. Kazykhanov noted that coincidence of Astana's and Tokyo's positions in the international arena in solution of the urgent international problems, primarily, in non-proliferation of nuclear weapons underlie the countries' constructive cooperation in the international arena. Having noted the tragic history of the peoples of Kazakhstan and Japan caused nuclear weapons testing, the parties noted the importance of the international conference devoted to the 20th anniversary of closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site to be held in Astana this year.
The Kazakh FM said also that Kazakhstan would support further development of Central Asia+Japan Dialogue aimed at establishment of cooperation in multilateral format and strengthening the multilateral interaction through the use of hydro-energy resources, development of transit-transport potential and creation of logistics centers in the Central Asian region.