Speech by H.E. Ambassador Nobutake Odano
at
The Catholic University of Leuven
21st October, 2009
On the 21st of October, 2009, Ambassador Odano, at the invitation of the Catholic University of Leuven, made a speech entitled: “A Re-evaluation of Japan-European Relations for a Stronger Partnership in the Changing Global Community”.
Ambassador Odano opened his speech by giving an overview of the year 2009, in which the financial and economic crisis, climate change, nuclear problems, and counterterrorism have increasingly become of major concern to the international community. Japan, the EU, and the US, who are like-minded partners sharing the same values and principles, have all gone through significant change this year. After underlining the importance of Japan and the rest of Asia to the world economy in the future by referring to facts and figures, Ambassador Odano emphasized the potential for stronger Japan-EU cooperation. While there exists strong Japan-US and EU-US relations based on the historical ties of security arrangements, Japan-EU relations have the potential to be enlarged. This could be founded on the challenges that Prime Minister Hatoyama recently announced in his speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September: (1) the global economic crisis, (2) climate change, (3) nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, (4) peacebuilding, development and poverty alleviation, (5) building an “East-Asian Community”. Ambassador Odano also demonstrated how Japan-EU relations could be deepened for the common interest in the fields of security in East Asia, the challenge of ageing societies with declining birth rates, next generation technology and the fight against piracy.
The speech was attended by approximately 180 people and Ambassador Odano engaged in a lively discussion with students and Professors of the university following the speech.