NEWS

Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Seminar Held

Update: December 22, 2017

An open lecture entitled "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Seminar" was held on Thursday, December 21, as a part of the International Organization class taught by Professor Takako Ueta (Majors: International Relations, Politics. The foreign ministry's former Deputy Chief of the Mission of Japan to the EU).

Hiroki Takabayashi, an ICU alumnus and currently the senior coordinator of the Climate Change Division of the foreign ministry's International Cooperation Bureau, spoke on climate change and international organizations, providing easy-to-understand explanations on (1) what climate change issues are all about, (2) international organizations that deal with these issues, (3) the mission of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat, (4) the UNFCCC Secretariat and climate change negotiations, (5) transitioning from the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement, and (6) the current state of climate change negotiations and issues going forward.

In the Q&A session, the students asked many questions on a wide range of topics, such as the significance today of the Kyoto Protocol, the stance of the United States regarding the Paris Agreement, and energy sources from the perspective of climate change. The students listened intently to the thorough, specific responses that were given. In Part II of the seminar, Mr. Takabayashi answered questions from the students about his work at the foreign ministry, providing explanations that were based on own experiences and included perspectives as an alumnus of ICU. The answers given by Mr. Takabayashi to questions from students aspiring to become diplomats were tremendously informative.