As a result of sustained efforts to globalize its activities, the Japan Association of Latin America and the Caribbean (JALAC) organized a public meeting entitled, “Japan-Latin America Relations: Then and Now”, September 17、2015, at the Carnegie Endowment conference hall, in Washington D.C. USA. This event was co-hosted by the Inter-American Dialogue (IAD), the leading center for policy analysis, exchange and communications on Western Hemisphere affairs in the United States. This workshop earmarks the first event that JALAC organizes abroad. The event was made possible by the generous support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and several Japanese and non-Japanese companies operating in the Americas. We are absolutely delighted with the event turn-out and content, which benefited from high quality presentations and Q&A sessions. JALAC very much looks forward to hopefully planning another event of this sort the next year.
A day prior to this workshop, a private roundtable meeting took place. At this closed- door meeting, specialists recommended by both JALAC and IAD examined Japan’s evolving approach to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), prospects for future political and economic engagement between Japan and various LAC countries as well as with the United Sates, and any perceived opportunities and/or challenges that the relationship could encounter in the coming years, against the backdrop of China’s ascendance in recent years and the development of TPP and the Pacific Alliance.
Throughout both events, the participants shared the views that Japan-Latin America relationship is of a long-lasting one and has evolved over the years, and that Japan is expected to continue deepening even further its relations with the region in the coming years. At both meetings, JALAC presented for discussion five distinctive features/elements of Japan’s engagement in the region, which together constitute a “Japan Model of Economic Partnership with Latin America.” Questions and comments from the floor were made on Japan’s economic growth prospects, public diplomacy, and private investment opportunities. At the private roundtable meeting, JALAC presented a discussion paper entitled “The Japan Model of Economic Engagement: Opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean (preliminary version)”. JALAC plans to publish its final version, which incorporates the outcomes of both events, in the near future.
JALAC will elaborate further on the outcomes and contents of both events in the forthcoming seminar, October 22, 2015. At the same time, we would like to invite the JALAC community to visit the IAD homepage with the following link.
http://www.thedialogue.org/event/japan-latin-america-relations-then-and-now/
We apologize that only audio is available in some sections of the recording.
【Agenda】Click Here
