OREANDA-NEWS. March 09, 2010. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received Co-Chairman of the Turkmen-Japanese Committee for economic cooperation, Senior Corporate Advisor for ITOCHU Corporation Mr. Sumitaka Fujita and CEO of Komatsu CIS Mr. Masao Fujita.

Thanking for the opportunity to meet personally and visit Turkmenistan again the guests emphasized that they considered it great honour to be received by the leader of the Turkmen state. Mr. Sumitaka Fujita said that the Japanese business community showed keen interest in enhancing and intensifying cooperation with Turkmenistan that was particularly conditioned by the Turkmen leader’s policy of progressive reforms. Through this policy the favorable investment climate and the conditions conducive to mutually advantageous cooperation had been created in the country which had the profound economic potential, the Japanese businessman noted.

The guests specifically emphasized the new incentives to intensify Turkmen-Japanese collaboration given by the Turkmen leader’s first official visit to Japan last December, which had become a historic event for both countries. The Japanese businessman said that they were still under a great impression of this visit, which had drawn worldwide response.

Thanking the guests for such a high evaluation President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov requested them to convey sincere gratitude to Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama for the heartfelt welcome extended to official government delegations of Turkmenistan and the delegation of the Mejlis in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Evaluating highly the high dynamics of business partnership between the two countries, the Turkmen leader noted that this dialogue was maintained successfully in a wide range of the fields including traditional deliveries of special equipment, which had proved its effectiveness in our country. The President noted with satisfaction that Turkmen-Japanese partnership was filled with a new content today that was mainly a result of the effective activities of the joint committee for economic cooperation.

The sides exchanged views on the possible ways to intensify bilateral cooperation through using its profound experience and diverse prospects as well as in compliance with the ongoing large-scale reforms in Turkmenistan. Reporting on the activities of the Turkmen-Japanese committee for economic cooperation, which would meet in Ashgabat this year, Mr. Sumitaka Fujita informed the Turkmen leader of the progress in implementing the joint projects and the agreements reached upon the results of the talks in Tokyo as well.

The conversation focused on the possible ways of partnership in the fuel and energy sector, in particular oil and gas processing industry that would be of particular interest to the leading Japanese companies such as ITOCHU Corporation and JGC Corporation standing ready to offer their profound expertise and advanced technologies to hydrocarbon-rich Turkmenistan, which was implementing the comprehensive programme aimed at modernizing the fuel and energy sector. Also, the Japanese guests presented the proposals for cooperation in textile and chemical industries to the Turkmen leader and expressed their willingness to invest in construction of a carbamide plant in Mary in particular.

Further collaboration on the deliveries of high-powered equipment manufactured by the leading Japanese producers including well-known Komatsu which were widely used in various sectors of dynamically developing Turkmen economy was deemed quite promising. In this regard, the Japanese businesses reported that the President of the Komatsu Company intended to go to Turkmenistan where h would negotiate the opening the training and research centre at one of the higher educational establishments of the country. Endorsing this intention President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that Turkmenistan stood ready to continue fruitful partnership with Komatsu – one of the largest machine producers in the world.

During the meeting Mr. Sumitaka Fujita and Mr. Masao Fujita noted that they had arrived in Ashgabat to perform a special mission entrusted to them by the Japan Karate Federation. The guests emphasized that today the whole world knew the President of Turkmenistan as an ardent supporter of the healthy lifestyle who demonstrated its benefits by personal example regularly practicing horse riding, sport shooting, cycling and other sports. The Japanese businessmen said that for the obvious reasons they were particularly pleased that the Turkmen leader practiced karate and had achieved the great accomplishments in this sport. This was clearly illustrated by the 6th dan black belt awarded to the Turkmen leader by the World Karate Federation (WKF).

The guests noted that for an outstanding contribution to development of the national sports, the great services in popularizing Japanese martial arts in Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov was elected an honorary member of the Japan Karate Federation. Congratulated the Turkmen leader on this remarkable occasion Mr. Sumitaka Fujita and Mr. Masao Fujita presented the certificate signed by President of the Japan Karate Federation Takashi Sasagawa and a kimono with Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s name to the Turkmen leader.

Expressing sincere gratitude to the Japan Karate Federation and Mr. Takashi Sasagawa for highly evaluating his efforts to popularize karate-do, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that he considered this event a new fact of international recognition of Turkmenistan’s policy aimed at developing physical culture and sport. In this regard the Turkmen leader called for intensifying Turkmen-Japanese contacts in the sphere of sport which opened up the good opportunities for fruitful collaboration.

In conclusion the President and his guests expressed belief that the plans of mutually advantageous cooperation between Turkmenistan and Japan would be successfully developed in mutual interests.