Appendix 10 Statement of Japan, UNESCO of 35 MC 2000

Statement by Japan
Presented by Hiroaki Ishikawa
Deputy Director, International Affairs Planning Division
Science and International Affairs Bureau
Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Monbusho), Japan

Mr/Madam Chairperson,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great honour to have an opportunity to say a few words on behalf of the Government of Japan at the 35^th SEAMEO Council Conference.

Japan and the Southeast Asian countries have fostered a close cooperative relationship over the years. On this occasion we would like to renew our efforts to make the present equal partnership of cooperation into a broader and deeper relationship in the fields of education and culture.

Last November, ASEAN+China, Japan and the Republic of Korea Summit was held in Manila, Philippines and the Prime Minister Obuchi proposed “Plan for Enhancing Human Resources Development and Human Resources Exchanges in East Asia”. One of the proposals is to increase the acceptance of foreign students from East Asian countries and to improve the environment and institutions for accepting foreign students. It is hoped that this plan will serve to nurture the intellectual exchange with Southeast Asian countries.

Here, I’d like to review Japan’s activities for cooperation in the fields of education, science and culture with SEAMEO member countries and in Asia and Pacific region.

First, I stress the importance of the role of student exchange in improving educational level both in Japan and out partner countries, and in fostering mutual understanding and friendship between us. At present, about 56, 0000 foreign students are studying in Japan, among whom about 11% are from SEAMEO countries, who are expected to play leading roles in their homeland. We are taking various measures to promote acceptance of the foreign students, including direct and indirect financial support to the students, and our participation in the programme of University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UPAP).

In March 1998, Japan provide a one-time emergency payment to assist students from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, who have difficulties in continuing their studies because of the currency crisis. Furthermore, Japan is also providing the additional scholarship to them (July 1998 to March 1999). Also, in this fiscal year, we found UMAP Fund-in-Trust for Supporting International Students and have provided a one-time payment ($1,430) to the new comer privately financed foreign students from Asian countries.

We have also been positively cooperating for the promotion of education in the region by dispatching and accepting experts and accepting trainees through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Second, I’d like to mention the Japan’s cooperation in connection with UNESCO. Last November, Mr Koichiro Matsuura has acceded to Director General for UNESCO as the first Asian person. Supporting new Director-General Matsuura, we intend to promote its activities and management reform through cooperation with UNESCO member states including Asian countries.

Japan is playing active roles in UNESCO’s regional programmes on extensive issues, including: (i) literacy, basic education and others in education; (ii) environment, informatics and others in sciences, and; (iii) protection and preservation of cultural heritage. Japan’s cooperation covers sending and receiving experts, financial contribution to the UNESCO activities in the Asia-Pacific region and so on. Especially in educational region, Japan has wrestled with “Education for All (EFA)” since 1990. This January, “Asia-Pacific Conference on EFA 2000 Assessment” was held in Bangkok. We intend to suppose positive cooperation with UNESCO so that EFA achieve its goal in this region.

Last June, the G8 summit in Cologne set forth in its communique the importance of promoting and vitalize teacher/student exchanges. As follow-up, Japan is going to donate the Japanese Trust Funds for the International Exchange Programme which will contribute to promote teacher/student exchange all cover the world in order to strengthen international exchange and mutual understanding.

Furthermore we are going to support UNESCO projects for capacity building by establishment of “Japanese Trust-Fund for Human Resources Development” in UNESCO.

We are also keen to scientific cooperation, with the emphasis on training of researchers. In 1998, more than 2,900 researchers were exchanged between SEAMEO Member Countries and Japan under the programmes of Monbusho and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). We need to jointly address ourselves by sharing our expertise and experiences to various issues that the international community faces as a whole. Concerning the environment, we have been engaged in education and science on this issue in the region and in the world. Last December, the UNESCO and Japan jointly organized a seminar on environmental education in the Asia-Pacific region titled “Teacher education which promotes environmental education – what should it be like? And about 30 experts and administrators from 13 countries in the region attended the seminar. Furthermore, our government makes an additional financial contribution to UNESCO for the promotion of the use of solar energy in the region.

The Education Forum of APEC at the Human Resources Development Working Group would play an important role in facilitating educational cooperation in Asia-Pacific region. For example, Japan hosted the 15^th APEC Education Forum Meeting last month and positively discussed the work underway in education among APEC member countries. For the efficient regional cooperation, we highly endorse the communication between APEC and SEAMEO as well as other related international organizations.

In addition, to promote the cooperation with Asia-Pacific Copyright and Neighboring Rights Seminar (Tokyo Seminar), the Asian Copyright Experts Invitation Programme, support for improvement of copyright system in the cooperation with the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), and the Asia-Pacific Copyright Systems Enhancement (APACE) Programme, in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

In the fiend of art culture, Japan carries out “Asia Art Festival” in which artists from Asian countries play contemporary performing arts with the Japanese artists and also carried out the Programme to Asia International Exchange of Culture through which we send and invite youth and amateur cultural groups and provide training for cultural activities.

At present, many countries in the region, including Japan as well, are undergoing severe financial constraints. Although Japan had provided financial support for SEAMEO activities, we have to say, and ask for your understanding, that recent server fiscal conditions are making our further contribution difficult. We are, of course, determined to continue cooperating with SEAMEO and its member countries on various programmes.

For “Education”, an indispensable investment to the future, continuous and steadfast efforts must be made. Your organization and the member countries have been making great efforts for advancement of education. Japan, too, is now in the midst of “Education Reform”. Japanese Prime Minister Obuchi set the educational issue as one of the most important issues Japan is now facing. Learning from one another and exchanging experiences among us on this issue are desired, and we believe it invaluable. Outside the Asia, Japan will host the G8 Ministers’ Meeting and Forum in Tokyo and Okinawa this April and plans to discuss the educational issues with the G8 countries. We want to keep discussion field like these in the future. We heartily hope that discussions and exchange of views and experiences among SEAMEO member countries would pave the way for the further advancement of our education, science and culture.

In concluding my remarks, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, and all the people concerned for your hospitality and thoughtful arrangements for the organization of this conference jointly with the Secretariat. Thank you.

Statement by UNESCO
Presented by Mr Victor Ordonez
Director of UNESCO/Bangkok

It is with great pleasure that UNESCO extends its warmed good wishes to the Ministers of Education of Southeast Asia and the SEAMEO Secretariat on the occasion of this the 35^th SEAMEO Council Conference.

It is the start of a new millennium and there is an atmosphere of new beginnings and new possibilities before us, in spite of the continuing challenges that face our ever-changing futures.

Many of your Excellencies were only recently in Bangkok for the inter-agency regional conference on the Education for All 2000 Assessment for the Asia Pacific region. You will recall that on that occasion we had a chance to collectively look at the progress made by individual countries and by the sub regions of the Asia Pacific in their pursuit of Education for All. As a result of rigorous and intensive in-country assessment efforts, we were able to document that much progress had been made, although many obstacles and challenges remain. We take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Ministries of Education in this Southeast Asian sub-region for their efforts and valuable contributions as provided in their country reports. The other sub-regions of the Asia Pacific found much in your reports and assessments that could benefit them.

Your Excellencies, it is both because you have so much to share with the rest of the world, and because the changing future calls for you in turn to be in tune with Education for All developments throughout the world, that we now make a special appeal to you. On April 25-27, in Dakar Senegal, about two hundred countries throughout the world will gather and share their collective experience on their drive towards Education for All. On behalf of our newly elected UNESCO Director-General, who in turn speaks on behalf of the inter-agency EFA Forum and convenors, that is, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, and the World Bank, we have the honor to invite you to this world gathering and urge you to head a team from your government. You and your heads of government have already been sent formal letters of invitation, and today marks an excellent opportunity to renew that invitation. The Dakar EFA World Forum is an inter-agency event, and it present a welcome opportunity for dialogue and constructive collaboration between UNESCO and all nations, whether they are UNESCO member states or not. It is for this reason that we have been asked by our Director General to reiterate his invitation and his desire to see all of you in Dakar, not just those of you from member states, but in particular the Ministers of Education of Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.

SEAMEO and UNESCO are both proud of our history of mutual collaboration and exchange. We have worked to our mutual benefit and satisfaction, not only through such conferences as those on Education for All, but also through joint projects and activities with SEAMEO institutes and its Secretariat in a variety of fields. Among the areas in which we collaborate closely are higher education, capacity building, literacy, sector analysis, and teacher training, to name few. I am confident that our collaboration will continue and strengthen through the coming decade, and I assure your Excellencies that UNESCO stands ready to support both your individual country programs and your collective SEAMEO priorities in any way we can.

Last updated: 19 September 2001
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