Josai University Educational Corporation

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Josai Co-Hosts “Visegrad Group and Japan, together for Eastern Partnership”

On February 5, Josai co-hosted “Visegrad Group and Japan, together for Eastern Partnership” with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Polish Embassy in Tokyo in collaboration with V4 Embassies in Tokyo at their Tokyo Kioicho campus.

The Visegrad Group (V4), is a alliance formed by the four Eastern European nations of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia to promote goodwill and cooperation between their countries. For their part, Japan has remained in close dialogue with the V4, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs holding seminars on a variety of topics including economics, environmental issues, and efficient energy use and development.
    The seminar also serves as a part of Josai’s mid-term target of strengthening relations with foreign universities—particularly those in Central Europe—by forging academic exchange agreements, with the ultimate goal of contributing to the growth of global human resources.
    With Poland serving as chair, this year’s seminar, by taking the highly discussed Eastern Partnership (the EU’s plan to strengthen regional relations between the six neighboring countries of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Armenia, and Belarus) as its topic, hoped to promote recognition and understanding of the European nations involved. For this reason, our university, having good relations and academic exchange with Central European universities, was chosen as the site of the seminar.

The seminar featured 150 participants in all, including representatives from the Japanese government, ambassadors from nations in the Eastern Partnership, as well as foreign diplomats from 22 different countries, university faculty and staff, students, experts in the field, and business people demonstrating their support for Josai’s global education program.
    Chancellor Noriko Mizuta gave the following words in her opening speech: “I consider it a great honor to host this year’s seminar for Eastern partnership. As our university strives to develop human resources that can contribute on a global scale, I believe this seminar to be a valuable opportunity for our students in their growth as the next generation of leaders.”
    This was followed by individual keynote speeches from Mr. Minoru Kiuchi, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Mrs. Grażyna Bernatowicz, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Poland, and Mr. Hans-Dietmar Schweisgut, Ambassador of the EU.
    The seminar itself consisted of four sessions (listed below) on different topics with expert panelists from both Japan and members of the Eastern Partnership giving presentations, followed by lively rounds of discussion.

Session 1 : Democracy, Good Governance, Stability
Session 2 : Economic Integration and Cooperation
Session 3 : Energy Security
Session 4 : Direction of Eastern Partnership and Japanese Diplomacy

Josai Professor Kenichi Matsuno served as commentator for each session, making many contributions to the discussion. Josai International University President Hakuo Yanagisawa then gave his closing speech to conclude the seminar.
    The seminar was followed by a reception that assembled both panelists and audience members who exchanged opinions on Japan’s role and the future development of the V4 and Eastern Partnership.

This year’s seminar, by combining dialogue on topics for the organization and maintenance of the V4 and Eastern Partnership as well as possible directions for the future, proved a valuable opportunity for students that participated, enabling them to enhance their understanding of regional issues and obtain a global perspective through direct exposure to voices from these nations.

Ms. Balint Anna Erzsebet, graduate of Hungary’s Eötvös Loránd University and former exchange student at JU and JIU, also participated in the seminar as a diplomat from the Hungarian Embassy of Japan where she has worked since her graduation. She was just one of many reminders of the undeniable success of Josai’s program for global human resources.
    While over 2,000 students at JU and JIU have studied the Hungarian language since the program’s launch in 2008, we will be adding courses in both Polish and Czech starting this April, moving even further toward our goal of global education.

Chancellor Mizuta’s opening speech

Chancellor Mizuta’s opening speech

Keynote speech from Mr.Minoru Kiuchi

Keynote speech from Mr.Minoru Kiuchi

Keynote Speech from Mrs. Grażyna Bernatowicz

Keynote Speech from Mrs. Grażyna Bernatowicz

Keynote speech from Mr. Hans-Dietmar Schweisgut

Keynote speech from Mr. Hans-Dietmar Schweisgut

A view of the seminar

A view of the seminar

>Participants from 22 different foreign embassies

Participants from 22 different foreign embassies

Participants engaged in heated discussion

Participants engaged in heated discussion

>Closing speech from JIU President Hakuo Yanagisawa

Closing speech from JIU President Hakuo Yanagisawa

A commemorative photo taken after the seminar

A commemorative photo taken after the seminar


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