20.12.2025

As part of the official visit to Tokyo, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Yohei Matsumoto, the head of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Tsuyoshi Sugino, and leaders of prominent Japanese universities such as the University of Tsukuba, Nagoya University, Tottori University, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, as well as Nagoya University of Economics.

As the Head of our state noted, education, science, and investment in human capital, forming the foundation of the Japanese "economic miracle," are one of the strategic directions of Uzbek-Japanese cooperation.

The President of Uzbekistan highlighted that for decades, Japan has remained among the world’s leaders  in its share of spending on science and the number of scientific patents. The country has given the world many great minds – Nobel Prize laureates, especially in physics, chemistry, and medicine.

The Japanese school education model is distinguished by a strong foundation in natural sciences and mathematics, high-quality teaching, and a culture of diligence, collectivism, and discipline. Prestigious Japanese diplomas, especially in engineering, robotics, medicine, and pharmaceuticals, are highly valued worldwide. The close and stable link between education and science in Japan with industry and business is of great interest.

Today, over 2,8 thousand Uzbek students study at leading Japanese educational institutions. Through the JDS scholarship program alone, more than 440 of our civil servants have been trained in Japan.

The forums of rectors have become an effective platform for interaction. In October, the fifth forum was successfully held in Samarkand with the participation of rectors from nearly 50 universities from both countries.

The Head of State noted that in Uzbekistan, the development of education and science is seen as the foundation for the country's accelerated modernization, ensuring its competitiveness and integration into the global intellectual and technological space. Significant work has been done in this direction over the past 7-8 years, but much still remains to be done.

As part of the systemic transformation of science, priorities have been identified, such as cultivating a new generation of researchers, transitioning to a cluster model for organizing science, and concentrating resources on important scientific areas.

It was noted that the Japanese universities represented at today's meeting possess powerful research infrastructure and high scientific and pedagogical potential in the most relevant areas for us, such as artificial intelligence and digital technologies, agriculture and water management, green energy and sustainable development, seismology, and smart city technologies.

Close cooperation with universities in Uzbekistan has already begun in these areas. Intensive negotiations were held the day before, and new agreements were reached on the implementation of joint projects.

In order to develop cooperation further, it was proposed to establish a joint commission on education and science, a consortium for innovation, and implement flagship projects, including introducing AI in educational process, as well as to launch a training program in engineering specialties.

During the event, an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in higher education, a memorandum on establishing a joint university in Uzbekistan in partnership with the University of Tsukuba, as well as a number of other documents covering scientific cooperation and human resource development, were signed.

A "roadmap" will be adopted for the systematic and timely implementation of the agreements reached.