DUSHANBE, February 3, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda have exchanged congratulatory messages on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Tajikistan and Japan.

In his message, President Rahmon, in particular, spoke highly of the development of Tajikistan’s bilateral ties with Japan over the past twenty years and noted that today’s relations between Tajikistan and Japan are in the phase of active development both in bilateral and multilateral format.

Tajik leader hailed fruitful activity of  Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Tajikistan and increasing cooperation between the two countries in the framework of the Central Asia plus Japan dialogue.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda noted that Japan has supported Tajikistan since it gains its independence and Japan will continue providing assistance to Tajikistan in the future as well.

Meanwhile, the Tajik MFA spokesman Davlat Nazriyev told reporters on February 2 that relations between Tajikistan and Japan are at the high level and due to technical and financial support of the Government of Japan various social and infrastructure development projects have been implemented in Tajikistan, including two important projects such as rehabilitation of the Qurghon Teppa-Dousti-Nizhny Panj highway and enhancement of water supply in the Hamadoni district, Khatlon province.  Tajikistan and Japan are also fruitfully cooperating in the framework of the project aimed at reconstructing Afghanistan’s economy, the Tajik MFA spokesman added.