Japan to allocate Uzbekistan major credit for railways dvlpmnt

Japan to allocate Uzbekistan major credit for railways dvlpmnt

TOKYO, February 4 (Itar-Tass) -- Japan will allocate Uzbekistan a
major credit for the development of the railways network, the Tokyo-based
press reports on Friday commenting on the results of the talks between the
two countries' Finance Ministers Yoshihiko Noda and Rustam Azimov held
here on Thursday.
The sides, as the leading Japanese newspaper Nikkei writes, will sign
an agreement on such a credit during summit talks due to be held in Tokyo
next week. Tashkent, as Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister Rustam
Azimov of Uzbekistan said at a meeting with his Japanese colleague, "would
like to use the loan to the sum of about 20 billion yens (247 million
dollars according to the current rate) to provide the railway in the area
of the border with Afghanistan with electric power."
For his part, Yoshihiko Noda, as Nikkei writes, "urged the Uzbek
authorities to improve the financial system of the country to ensure an
inflow of Japanese investments." At the same time, he also stressed Japan'
s interest in developing deposits of rare-earth materials and other
natural resources in Uzbekistan, noting that "the development of
partnership in this sphere is one of the conditions of giving this
republic the Japanese credit.