Message

猛暑の東京に、涼しいモンゴルよりおいでいただき、ありがとうございます。原油価格の上昇でエアコンの制限がないことを感謝します。

　JICAのシニアボランティアとしてモンゴルに滞在された故伊吹氏のご計らいで、我々は平成17（2005） 年から日本とモンゴルの大学間、および産業界を含めて電気分野での連携を深めるために日本-モンゴル国際交流セミナー (M-J セミナー)を、毎年交互に催してきました。

さて、今回は18回目となるM-Jセミナーですが、東京大学の後援で開催することになりました。ご協力いただきます熊田先生ほか、関係者の皆さんに御礼申し上げます。

モンゴルは我が国にとって歴史的にも深い関係のある国です。東西を結ぶ広大なシルクロードを通じた交易は我が国の文化や技術に多大な影響を与え、13世紀、元の時代にはチンギスハーンが日本に使節団を送ったこともありました。顔立ちといった身体的特徴だけでなく年長者への敬愛や互助精神など精神性もまた親近感あるアジアの重要国です。

今回のセミナーが今後の交流のいっそうの活性化につながることを期待し、開会の挨拶とさせていただきます。

We would like to express our gratitude to you for coming all the way from cool Mongolia to Tokyo during this heat wave. We also hope that rising oil prices will not lead to restrictions on air conditioning.

　Thanks to the efforts of the late Mr. Ibuki, who served as a JICA Senior Volunteer in Mongolia, the Japan-Mongolia International Exchange Seminar (M-J Seminar) has been held annually on a rotating basis since 2005 to deepen cooperation in the field of electrical engineering between Japanese universities and the Mongolian University of Science and Technology (MUST), as well as with the industrial sector.

In 2019, the 14th seminar was held in Nagoya, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, exchanges were suspended for three years from 2020 to 2022. However, the series was revived with the 15th seminar held in Mongolia in 2023. Subsequently, the 16th seminar was held in Kitakyushu City in 2024, and the 17th in Mongolia in 2025; this year marks the 18th iteration. This year’s seminar will be held at the University of Tokyo on August 3 and 4, organized by the International Academic Exchange Society in Northern Kyushu and supported by the University of Tokyo. We would like to express our gratitude to Professor Kumada and all other involved parties for their cooperation.

Mongolia has been developing rapidly in recent years. Thanks to JICA’s activities, an increasing number of young people are receiving higher education in Japan, and graduates with degrees from Japanese universities are now emerging. We expect 12 participants from Mongolia, including representatives from MUST and the business community, to attend this seminar, and we look forward to a lively exchange of ideas. In the hope that this will lead to further revitalization of our future exchanges, I would like to conclude my opening remarks.