Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi eyed Kazakhstan's huge energy resources in meetings Monday with President Nursultan Nazarbayev and other officials at the start of the first visit by a Japanese premier to Central Asia.
"Japan is not rich in natural resources. Kazakhstan has enormous reserves," Koizumi told reporters. Nazarbayev, for his part, underlined that the emerging market of Kazakhstan and energy-hungry, industrialised Japan "have complimentary economies."
Koizumi met with Nazarbayev shortly after his arrival, while the Japanese ambassador and Kazakhstan's energy minister signed a memorandum on intensifying co-operation in the nuclear energy sphere.
On Tuesday Koizumi was due to fly to the Uzbek capital Tashkent to meet with President Islam Karimov, before finishing his tour with a visit on Wednesday to the historic city of Samarkand.
The visit marks Japan's first such foray into strategic ex-Soviet Central Asia, where rival China is already well established. Japan has only a modest presence in Kazakhstan so far, with a joint venture at a uranium mine and a small share in one of the Caspian basin oil fields. Koizumi, who steps down next month, said before his departure that Japan needs "diversity in our energy strategy".