Press Releases
The 7th Meeting of the Advisory Board for the Promotion of Science and Technology Diplomacy
1. On May 18th, under the participation of Mr. Mitsunari OKAMOTO, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, and Dr. Teruo KISHI, Science and Technology Advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, the 7th meeting of the Advisory Board for the Promotion of Science and Technology Diplomacy was held.
2. At the beginning, Mr. OKAMOTO made a remark about the importance of science, technology and innovation (STI) and the STI Roadmap, which is a guiding tool to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Regarding accumulated investigation and discussion on those topics so far, Mr. OKAMOTO also stated his expectation that attendees make an active discussion to develop recommendation on the STI roadmap in this meeting to assist the movement of achieving SDGs through STI, considering the important events scheduled in 2019, namely G20 in Osaka, TICAD7 and SDGs Summit.
3. Dr. KISHI reviewed his activities as the Science and Technology Advisor since 6th meeting last year, such as preparing recommendations on the Arctic Region, publicizing STI in Japan, and lectures he has gave at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr. KISHI also expressed his willingness to disseminate messages to the world at the 3rd STI Forum, which is going to be held in June, to push each country forward to design its own STI Roadmap.
4. Furthermore, the officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a report on the recent preparation toward the 3rd STI Forum. Dr. Michiharu NAKAMURA, who was elected as a member of ‘the United States 10-member Group’, and Mr. Tateo ARIMOTO, member of the Advisory Board, made a brief introduction about the outline of the discussion on STI for SDGs at international conferences.
5. Referring to those reports and comments given, members had an active discussion on the related topics.
Reference 1: Science and Technology Advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs
Its objective is to advise and support the activities of the Foreign Minister and related departments regarding the utilization of science and technology for foreign policy planning, as well as to strengthen the cooperation with the advisors and related experts of other countries. In September 2015 Dr. Teruo KISHI, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, took office.
Reference 2: Advisory Board for the Promotion of Science and Technology Diplomacy
The "Advisory Network on Science and Technology Diplomacy" gathers experts from various fields under the Science and Technology Advisor and utilizes their knowledge and experience for the planning of foreign policy including Japan’s top diplomacy and high level international conferences. As part of this attempt, the "Advisory Board for the Promotion of Science and Technology Diplomacy" was established consisting of a total of 18 experts from related fields (chaired by the Science and Technology Advisor). Since the inauguration in February 2016 the meeting has been held six times.
Reference 3: The United Nations STI Forum - collaborative multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals
The United Nations STI Forum is an annual meeting where multiple stakeholders representing governments, scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs and civil society to discuss on STI to realize SDGs. The forum has been held twice in June 2016 and in May 2017 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. In 2018, the forum is scheduled on 5th and 6th of June, and H.E. Toshiya HOSHINO, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, will take the co-chairmanship.
Reference 4: 10-Member Group
1. In order to support SDGs, the new development agenda entitled “the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” was adopted in the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015 and launched a “Technology Facilitation Mechanism: TEM”. This mechanism composed of (1) the UN Inter-agency Task Team (IATT) on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, (2) a collaborative multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals, called STI Forum, and (3) an online platform.
2. 10-Member Group, which composed of 10 representatives of civil society, the private sector and the scientific community, provides ideas, guidance and recommendations to IAAT to prepare the STI Forum, to write a summary of the Forum and to provide briefing to the high-level political forum as requested. The Group’s members are appointed by the Secretary=general for periods of two years.