Tokyo Peacebuilders Symposium 2008 and Outreach Event to be Held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations University

March 19, 2008

On March 24 (Mon) and 25 (Tue), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations University will jointly hold at the United Nations University a Tokyo Peacebuilders Symposium 2008, "Peacebuilding Experience and Knowledge from Asia to the World." In the afternoon of March 25, an open outreach event, "Peacebuilders' Festival @ UNU Open Campus" will be held. Both events will be held on the occasion that the members of the inaugural class of a recently-started "Pilot Program for Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding" will finish their course in this March.
At the Symposium, Mr. Masahiko Koumura, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary-General, and Mr. Kenzo Oshima, Senior Vice-President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will deliver keynote speeches. Deeper discussions for future efforts will be conducted on the individual themes of Cambodia, East Timor, election assistance and human security.
At the outreach event, there will be a symposium, a debriefing session, a booth exhibition and the open office of UN organizations, regarding the UNU, a think tank for the UN system, as an ordinary university.
It is hoped that these two events will further deepen the understanding of the importance of peacebuilding and Japan's efforts for peacebuilding in and out of Japan.

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