Press Releases
5th Meeting of the Advisory Board for the Promotion of Science and Technology Diplomacy
1. On July 26th, under the participation of Mr. Kiyoshi ODAWARA, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Dr. Teruo KISHI, Science and Technology Advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the 5th Meeting of the Advisory Board for the Promotion of Science and Technology Diplomacy was held.
2. At the beginning, Mr. ODAWARA made a remark about the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) held in July. As Mr. ODAWARA told in the remark, Foreign Minister Fumio KISHIDA stated the importance of the public-private partnership, which was also mentioned in the ‘Recommendation for the Future’ submitted by the Advisory Board in May this year, while introducing the cases of problem being solved by Japanese enterprises through technology. Mr. ODAWARA appreciated Dr. KISHI and the Advisory Board for its contribution, and expressed his expectation for fruitful consultation during the meeting about past and future of the science advisor’s activity.
3. Dr. KISHI explained the overview of his past activities as the science and technology advisor, for instance, giving advice and recommendations, networking with science and technology advisors abroad and other experts, disseminating the science, technology and innovation (STI) in Japan and lectures he gave at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr. KISHI also expressed his willingness to further make contributions in the diplomatic fields from scientific and technical perspective.
4. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Dr. Michiharu NAKAMURA, member of the Advisory Board, reported on recent related meetings at the United Nations in the context of utilizing STI to implement SDGs. Dr. Takashi SHIRAISHI, who’s chairing the working group to deliberate the activity of the science and technology advisor, explained the outcomes of the working group.
5. Attendees actively consulted about appropriate ways to demonstrate initiatives to implement SDGs, challenges that science and technology diplomacy should tackle in the long-term and possible domestic collaboration involving industries and academia.
Reference 1: Science and Technology Advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs
Dr. Teruo KISHI, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, was appointed as the first advisor in September 2015. Science and Technology Advisor supports the activities of the Minister for Foreign Affairs on matters of science and technology, aims at strengthening the collaboration with the advisers and related parties in the science and technology field of other countries, and advises the Minister for Foreign Affairs and related departments on how to incorporate matters of science and technology in the planning and drafting process of its various foreign policy strategies.
Reference 2: Advisory Board for the Promotion of Science and Technology Diplomacy
In December 2015, Fumio KISHIDA, the then Foreign Minister, gathered experts from various fields of science and technology under the Science and Technology Advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and established the ‘Science and Technology Diplomacy Advisory Network’ to utilize their knowledge and experiences in the planning and drafting process of foreign policy strategies including Japan's top diplomacy and high-level international conferences. As part of this attempt, he appointed experts from the related fields to the member of ‘Advisory Board for the Promotion of Science and Technology Diplomacy’ (currently 18 members including Dr. KISHI). Since the inauguration in February 2016 the meeting has been held five times.