Uzbekistan and JICA strengthen partnership in the tourism sector

Abdulaziz Akkulov, Chairman of the Tourism Committee of Uzbekistan, met with Mamoru Sakai, Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Uzbekistan Office.

During the discussions, the parties examined opportunities for joint projects to enhance tourism infrastructure, create new tourism offerings, advance the tourism statistics and analytics system, and strengthen the industry’s institutional capacity.

Special focus was given to structuring JICA-supported training programs for staff of the Tourism Committee’s regional offices, involving international specialists and leveraging Japan’s sector management expertise.

The parties also discussed developing regional cooperation under the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan, the “Central Asia Tourism Ring”. The talks focused on promoting the region as a single destination, developing joint cross-border routes, and creating a unified regional tourism brand.

Following the meeting, agreements were made to develop a statistics and analytics platform leveraging Japanese expertise, establish a unified system for data collection and analysis on tourism sites, collaboratively enhance Uzbekistan and Central Asia’s tourism appeal at specialized events in Japan, train tourism village specialists, and create a project to install directional road signs along highways.

Aziza Alimova, UzA