Emperor Akihito met Tuesday [15 May] with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov, the first president of a country newly independent of the former Soviet Union to meet the Japanese monarch, the Imperial Household Agency said. During the meeting at the Imperial Palace, the emperor thanked the president for Tajikistan's help in a 64-day hostage crisis in 1999 in which four Japanese and a Kyrgyz were freed in Tajikistan in October after being held by Islamic rebels in nearby Kyrgyzstan, agency officials said. Rakhmonov invited Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko to visit his country, the officials said. The four Japanese mining engineers were kidnapped 23 August 1999, in the Batken district in southern Kyrgyzstan along with three Kyrgyz nationals. Two of the three Kyrgyz had been freed earlier. The Japanese were sent to Kyrgyzstan by Japan's Metal Mining Agency in mid-June that year to research the possibility of mining gold in the area. Rakhmonov arrived in Tokyo on Monday for a five-day visit for talks with Japanese political and business leaders on ways to promote regional peace in Central Asia. (Kyodo) KAZAKH PREMIER SEEKING JAPANESE DIRECT INVESTMENT 15 May A chance has appeared in economic relations between Kazakhstan and Japan to advance from the disbursement of loans to direct Japanese investments in the Kazakh economy. Kazakh Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev expressed the opinion today during the sixth session of the Japanese-Kazakh committee for economic cooperation. In this connection he said both sides should define priority spheres for Japan's direct investments. Among promising spheres of bilateral economic cooperation Tokayev named the formation of industrial groups in Kazakhstan with Japanese investments, for instance in the petrochemical industry in Aktau, in western Kazakhstan. Since Kazakhstan became independent Japan has lent it 580m dollars and granted 22m dollars. The Kazakh-Japanese committee for economic cooperation was formed in 1993 and held its first session in 1994. (Interfax)