Japan-Turkmenistan Summit Telephone Talk (Summary)

On August 12, commencing at 15:30 p.m. for approximately 10 minutes, Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, held a summit telephone talk with H.E. Mr. Serdar BERDIMUHAMEDOV, President of Turkmenistan. The overview of the talk is as follows.

1. At the outset, Prime Minister Kishida explained that, following the earthquake that occurred off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture on August 8, and the major earthquake warning issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency on the same day, he has decided to postpone his attendance at the "Central Asia plus Japan" Dialogue Summit in order to deal with crisis management and disaster response. Prime Minister Kishida emphasized that there is no change in Japan’s determination that Japan will continue to strongly promote its relations between Central Asia and Japan as well as bilateral relations between Japan and Turkmenistan on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the "Central Asia plus Japan" Dialogue.
2. Prime Minister Kishida expressed his appreciation for the preparations for his visit and stated that it is regrettable that he could not visit Central Asia this time, but stated that he would like to appropriately coordinate his future visits by considering various circumstances.
3. President Berdimuhamedov stated that he understands Prime Minister Kishida’s decision and that he would like to continue to work with Japan to further strengthen the bilateral relations.