Kazakhstan's international development agency KazAID and Japan's international cooperation agency JICA signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of official development assistance on December 23, QazMonitor reports citing the ministry of foreign affairs.
The memorandum was signed during the 9th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Central Asia–Japan dialogue in Tokyo. The meeting was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tleuberdi and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoshimasa Hayashi.
The agreement aims to implement joint projects and initiatives in Central Asian countries to promote social and economic development in the region.
Minister Hayashi noted the important role Kazakhstan plays in ensuring a stable energy supply and the significance of logistics routes such as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route and expressed his desire to cooperate with Kazakhstan in decarbonization.
In response, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tileuberdi said that Kazakhstan is actively working not only in the traditional areas of fossil fuel and rare metal exports but also in the area of decarbonization and that he would like to further promote cooperation with Japan.
The two ministers exchanged views on the current geopolitical situation in the regions and promised to continue working together in various fields.
They also confirmed continued coordination toward a "world free from nuclear weapons" between Japan, the only country to have suffered from atomic bombings in war, and Kazakhstan, which experienced the exposure at a nuclear test site.