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[Provisional Translation]

On October 24 (local time), Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tashkent in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The following day, October 25 (local time), Prime Minister Abe attended a welcome ceremony at the Oqsaroy. The Prime Minister then held talks with H.E. Mr. Islam Karimov, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Afterwards, Prime Minister Abe held a meeting with a private-sector mission, before holding a signing ceremony and joint press announcement.

In the afternoon, the Prime Minister attended a business forum. Following that, Prime Minister Abe offered flowers at the Monument of Independence and Humanism and then paid his respects at a cemetery in Tashkent for the Japanese dead.

Finally, the Prime Minister visited the Navoi Theater, which was constructed in part by Japanese who were detained in Tashkent following World War II.

The Prime Minister said at the business forum,

“I am extremely pleased that this Japan-Uzbekistan Business Forum is being attended by top members of leading Japanese businesses and organizations, and is being held with such grandeur.

This is the first visit by a Japanese Prime Minister to Uzbekistan in nine years.

Seeing the well-ordered town of Tashkent, as well as the expressions of self-confidence displayed by the people of Uzbekistan, I have been able to feel for myself the steady economic development that this country is making.

Uzbekistan is currently pushing forward with economic structural reforms. In our summit meeting today, President Karimov passionately explained to me the extent of his trust and high expectations of Japan’s technology and experiences.

In response, I communicated to him that the Japanese public and private sector will work together to meet those expectations.

As Uzbekistan continues to advance the diversification of its industries, I am extremely pleased to have heard of progress already on detailed cooperative projects with Japanese companies in fields such as bus and truck manufacturing, fertilizer plants, as well as information and telecommunications.

In attendance today from Japan are the heads of companies representing Japan in a wide-range of fields, including resources, infrastructure development, and innovation.

I have high expectations for this business forum as an opportunity to expand the scope of cooperation between our two countries.

The bilateral relationship between Uzbekistan and Japan is founded on respect and gratitude. It is respect for the Japanese detainees who built the Navoi Theater, which has not crumbled even after large-scale earthquakes, and gratitude for the effort to keep the cemetery for Japanese detainees clean every day.

Even from their position as detainees, those individuals worked diligently and created a magnificent theater. As a fellow citizen of Japan, I feel deep pride for these former Japanese detainees. Unfortunately, they were not able to return to Japan, and lived out their days in this country, and I truly want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the people of Uzbekistan who have looked over their cemetery for so long.

I believe that the people of Japan and Uzbekistan are connected through our hearts.

The word for heart is pronounced ‘kokoro’ in Japanese. In Uzbek, I hear it is pronounced ‘kokara.’ I wonder if these aren’t the same words. I hope that the people of our countries, who all place importance on the heart, will continue to cooperate for our mutual development while working to foster a long-standing friendship.
I want to continue to value these warm feelings on a permanent basis and expand the horizons of our bilateral relationship, including through the strengthening of personal exchanges.

Just now, the President complimented me by saying that I have been boldly advancing policies. However, listening to the President’s speech, I thought to myself that I cannot match President Karimov in terms of boldness. I am confident that the President will continue to utilize that boldness to further advance economic reforms and make this economy and country flourish. I would like to conclude my remarks by pledging that Japan will also make use of its technology to that end as well and that we will continue to enthusiastically cooperate with Uzbekistan. Thank you very much.”