Press Releases

1. The Government of Japan and the United States will co-host the 3rd Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) Senior Mission Leaders (SML) course from 11 November 2013 through 22 November 2013 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

2. The U.S.-Japan GPOI SML course, initially presented in 2009, emphasizes mission planning, preparation, operating and command as a strategic level exercise. Conducting this third iteration of the course demonstrates the firm and mature Japan- U.S. relationship and this is a concrete example of an initiative to strengthen Japan- U.S. cooperation on peacekeeping, which was also specified in the October, 2013 2+2 Joint Statement.

3. In addition, Prime Minister Abe stated in his speech at the 68th session of the UN General Assembly that Japan, as a “Proactive Contributor to Peace”, would contribute even more actively to peace and stability of the world, and continuously cultivate human resources appropriate to the UN activities. The GPOI SML course can also be regarded as one of the tangible efforts.

4. The 3d GPOI SML course will be conducted in accordance with the curriculum developed by the UN and the UN training guidelines, and will include various training topics such as gender and protection of civilians including women and children. The ultimate goal of the course is to increase the number of potential UN peacekeeping leaders available from within the Asia Pacific region. The 19 course participants, comprised of military, police, and civilian personnel from 7 countries1 in the Asia-Pacific region including 5 women, will attend the course.

5. The opening ceremony of the course will be held on 11 November 2013, where Mr. Hirotaka Ishihara, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, representing the Government of Japan and Mr. Kurt W. Tong, Charge d' Affaires ad interim of the United States and Brigadier Gen. Michael B. Compton, U.S. Air Force representing the Government of United States will attend. Her Excellency Professor Joy Ogwu, Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the United Nations and Chair of the special committee on PKO, and Mr. Edmond Mulet, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations Secretariat, will also attend and give a keynote speech. The closing ceremony of the course will be held on the last day of the course, 22 November 2013. In the closing ceremony, the participants are to receive a certificate of course completion.