During his official visit to Tokyo, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, met with Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Matsumoto Yohei, the President of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Sugino Suyoshi, and heads of leading Japanese higher education institutions such as the University of Tsukuba, Nagoya University, Tottori University, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and Nagoya University of Economics.
The head of our state emphasized that investments in education, science, and human capital development, which form the basis of Japan's "economic miracle," are one of the strategic directions of Uzbekistan-Japan cooperation.
The President of Uzbekistan noted that Japan has long been a leader in terms of expenditures on science and the number of scientific patents. The country has produced many renowned scientists, particularly Nobel laureates in the fields of physics, chemistry, and medicine.
The Japanese school education model is distinguished by a strong foundation in natural sciences and mathematics, high quality of teaching, a culture of diligence, teamwork, and discipline. Prestigious Japanese diplomas, especially in engineering, robotics, medicine, and pharmaceuticals, are highly valued worldwide. The close and strong links established between education, science, industry, and business in Japan are particularly noteworthy.
Today, more than 2,800 Uzbek students are studying at Japan's leading educational institutions. Under the JDS scholarship program alone, over 440 civil servants have been educated in Japan.
The Rectors' Forum has become an effective platform for mutual relations. In October, the fifth forum was successfully held in Samarkand with the participation of rectors from nearly 50 universities of the two countries.
The head of our state stressed that in Uzbekistan, the development of education and science is viewed as the foundation for the country's rapid modernization, ensuring its competitiveness and integration into the global intellectual and technological space. Significant work has been carried out in this area over the last 7-8 years. However, there are still many tasks to be solved.
Within the framework of the systematic transformation of science, priority directions have been identified, such as shaping a new generation of researchers, organizing the sector's activities based on a cluster model, and concentrating resources on key scientific areas.
It was noted at today's meeting that the Japanese universities participating have a strong research infrastructure and high scientific and pedagogical expertise in areas most relevant for our country, such as artificial intelligence and digital technologies, agriculture and water management, "green" energy and sustainable development, seismology, and "smart city" technologies.
Close cooperation with Uzbek universities in these areas has begun. Intensive negotiations were held just yesterday on implementing joint projects, and new agreements were reached.
To further develop cooperation, proposals were made to establish a joint commission on education and science, a consortium on innovations, implement flagship projects, including projects for introducing AI into the educational process, and launch an educational program in engineering specialties.
As part of the event, an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in higher education, a memorandum on establishing a higher education institution in Uzbekistan jointly with the University of Tsukuba, and a number of other documents in the fields of scientific cooperation and personnel training were signed.
A "roadmap" will be adopted to ensure the systematic and timely implementation of the reached agreements.
