Japan to Host First-Ever Summit With Central Asia in 2025

Japan is gearing up to host its first-ever summit with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, with the meeting expected as early as December 2025 in Tokyo.

For the past 20 years, the five Central Asian nations have held regular minister-level dialogues with Japan, but a full-scale leaders’ summit would mark a major upgrade in cooperation, The Caspian Post reports via Kyrgyz media.

Japan aims to deepen ties with the resource-rich region, which maintains close relations with Russia and is seeing growing influence from China. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi views the upcoming summit as a chance to strengthen economic security and expand collaboration across key sectors.

A previous attempt to hold the summit in Kazakhstan in August 2024-marking the 20th anniversary of the Central Asia + Japan dialogue-was canceled at the last moment due to warnings of a potential major earthquake in Japan.

If held, the 2025 summit would open a new chapter in Japan-Central Asia relations.