The first ever Japan- Central Asia Summit on 19-20 December 2025 in Tokyo, Japan, not only signifies Japan’s pivot to Central Asia but also characterizes reaffirmation of the region’s multi-vector foreign policy. By elevating the Central Asia plus Japan Dialogue (CA+JAD) to the heads-of-state level, the summit aimed to institutionalize bilateral engagement between Japan and Central Asia on a wide range of areas. The summit brought together the Prime Minister of Japan, Ms. Sanae Takaichi, who chaired the proceedings, and the premiers of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. While highlighting geostrategic and geo-economic salience of Central Asia, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced the launch of the ‘CA+JAD Tokyo Initiative’ significant for Central Asia’s industrialization and diversification, further strengthening the mutually-beneficial relationship between the two sides.[1] The leaders signed a 53-point “Tokyo Declaration”, which sets out a five-year long plan for economic cooperation as Japan pledged about $19 billion in investments in fields ranging from critical minerals to infrastructure modernization and artificial intelligence.[2] A total 150 agreements were signed between them.
