Newsletter No. 1396
News-Analysis
June 29, 2009

 

The following newsletter has been contributed by Christopher Len (Shingetsu Member No. 82), who is the Coordinator of our Central Asia Contact Group. Len is based at the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP), Stockholm, Sweden.

JAPANESE PROFESSORS VISIT TURKMENISTAN

In recent months, bilateral news on Japan and Turkmenistan focused on educational visits by Japanese delegations to Turkmenistan. Economic and political contact between the two countries appears to be absent recently. While there have been reports on the Turkmen government’s growing “multivector” approach to deliver its gas to foreign markets, Japan and Japanese companies do not feature in this discussion, as far as I am aware.

The State News Agency of Turkmenistan (TDH) reported on February 25 that students of the D. Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages met a Japanese delegation consisting of professors and students from Senshu University, Japan. The head of the Japanese delegation, Professor Hiroyasu Satake, noted that the aim of their visit to Turkmenistan was to study history and culture because they were the participants in the “Along the Silk Routes” seminar. Within the framework of this seminar the Japanese students visited various countries including China, Syria, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.

During the meeting with the Japanese, the teachers and students of D. Azadi Institute updated the guests on the large-scale educational reforms in Turkmenistan. We also learn from here that the Japanese language is taught at this Institute. The Japanese guests also visited the Ancient Nisa Historical and Cultural Reserve and went sightseeing in ancient Merv.

Months later, the Central Asian News Service reported that on June 3, 2009, the Tokyo Foundation’s International Relations Professor Yoshiaki Sasaki presented to Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov a set of one hundred books on the history and development of the economy of Japan. The report, citing the State News Agency of Turkmenistan (TDH), mentioned that President Berdymuhamedov instructed Vice-Premier Hydyr Saparlyev to translate the books into the Turkmen language and to provide them to every library of the institutions of higher learning in Turkmenistan. He also invited Professor Yoshiaki Sasaki to deliver a series of lectures for Turkmen students.