The Diplomat
The XXII Spain-Japan Forum will take place in Kyoto “when the situation of the pandemic allow it”, as agreed by the Board of Trustees of the Spain-Japan Council Foundation.
The Council Foundation held last December 17, in hybrid format, the second and last ordinary meeting of the Board of Trustees of 2021, in which about twenty trustees attended in person and several others were connected to via telematic means, among them the Spanish Ambassador to Japan, Jorge Toledo. Among the attendees were the Japanese ambassador to Spain, Kenji Hiramatsu, and the president of the Council Foundation and co-president of the Spain-Japan Forum, Josep Piqué.
The Board approved the appointment, as members of the Board of Trustees, of Ángeles Moreno Bau, State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, and Javier Salido, Director General for North America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was also present at the meeting. The Board also approved the Foundation’s Action Plan for 2022, with a focus on flexibility in the face of the uncertainty of international travel due to the pandemic.
During the meeting, the trustees agreed that the XXII Spain Japan Forum “will take place in Kyoto when the circumstances of the pandemic allow it”. The Forum, the main public diplomacy meeting between representatives of civil society and the Administration of both countries, has been held annually since 1997, alternating between Japan and Spain, on an agenda of strategic issues for bilateral relations. The previous edition was held on December 2, 2021 from a set in Madrid and was broadcast by streaming in Spanish and Japanese due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this regard, Javier Salido stated during the meeting of the Board of Trustees that the holding of the Spain Japan Digital Forum in 2021, “at a particularly difficult time”, was “a notable success”. He also highlighted the increase recorded throughout this year in trade exchanges between Spain and Japan. “Our exports have grown and we could close the year with a trade balance close to balance,” he added.
