PRESS RELEASES

Japan’s Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications H.E. Mr. Yoshitaka Shindo Meets Secretary-General of ASEAN H.E. Mr. Le Luong Minh and Visits (AHA Centre)

May 8, 2013

    Japan’s Minister for Internal affairs and Communication H.E. Mr. Yoshitaka Shindo visited ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) on April 29 to have meetings with the ASEAN Secretary-General,H.E. Mr. Le Luong Minh and the Executive Director of AHA Centre, Mr. Said Faisal.

    During the meeting, Minister Shindo and Secretary-General Minh both agreed to continue to strengthen the relationship between Japan and ASEAN, particularly in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which could contribute to the development of ASEAN region. Moreover, Minister Shindo described the importance of utilising ICT and introduced some examples of ICT utilization in the area of disaster management in Japan. Minister Shindo also announced that Japan is ready to support ASEAN in this field in order to reinforce the cooperation between ASEAN and Japan.Secretary-General Minh acknowledged Japan's proposal and stated that ASEAN also wishes to learn from Japan in the utilisation of ICT in such areas as telemedicine system and energy sector.In addition, with regard to information security, Secretary-General Minh shared his view that the 'Ministerial Policy Meeting on Japan-ASEAN Cyber Security Cooperation' which will be held in Tokyo in September this year will produce significant results for both ASEAN and Japan.

    During the meeting with the Executive Director of AHA Centre, Mr.Said Faisal, Minister Shindo introduced the utilisation of ICT in Japan in the efforts for disaster management, including the examples of earthquake emergency information and tsunami prediction as well as the utilization of the satellite for a nation-wide alert system.They also confirmed to further promote concrete cooperation activities for establishing ASEAN regional disaster management collaborationsystem in which AHA Centre will be the core.