UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea: Conference to Mark Conclusion of Human Resource Development ProgramFirst Meeting between Under-Secretary-General Soares and 90 Maritime Officials from 50 Countries to Discuss and Seek Resolution to Various Maritime Issues

Opening Event: November 28 (Friday); Nippon Zaidan Building (Minato-ku, Tokyo)
Concluding Conference: December 1–3 (Monday–Wednesday); Izumi Garden Conference Center (Minato-ku, Tokyo)

The Nippon Foundation held a conference bringing together for the first time 90 government officials from 50 countries to discuss various global maritime issues.

With urgent responses being sought for increasingly global issues like changes in the maritime environment associated with climate change and the depletion of marine resources, the conference, led by UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Miguel de Serpa Soares, brought together for the first time 90 maritime-related government officials who are alumni of “The United Nations – The Nippon Foundation of Japan Fellowship Programme,” representing 50 countries.

This human resource capacity-building program, for countries that are still establishing laws and developing structures for comprehensive maritime administration, was jointly launched by the Nippon Foundation and the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (UN DOALOS) in fiscal 2003. To date, 100 persons from 59 countries have completed the program, and these graduates are now working as government officials responsible for maritime legal issues and maritime administration in their home countries.

1. Opening Event

Time November 28, 2014 (Friday) 11:00–17:45
Location 2nd Floor Conference Room, Nippon Zaidan Building, 1-2-2 Akasaka, Minato-ku Tokyo
Program Greetings: Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman, The Nippon Foundation; Miguel de Serpa Soares, UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel, and others
Lectures including: Maritime-Based Sustainable Economic Development, Professor Alain Piquemal, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis

2. Concluding Conference

Time December 1–3 (Monday–Wednesday)
Location Izumi Garden Conference Center, 1-6-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Program Maritime issues in respective countries, Background to and future direction of human resource capacity building, inter-regional seminars

Contact

Public Relations Section, Communications Department
The Nippon Foundation

E-mail
cc@ps.nippon-foundation.or.jp