by Admin | Mar 20, 2015 | Event Updates
Boston Global Forum (BGF) is pleased to host the first conference of Young Leaders Network for Peace and Security (YLNP) in Meiji University, Tokyo which is to be held:
Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Tokyo Time) on March 30, 2015
Venue: Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan
Host: Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-Founder, Chairman, Boston Global Forum
Moderator: Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, President of the America-Japan Society, Inc., Professor of Sophia University and Keio University, Former Ambassador to the US
Topic Focus: Young Leaders implement Framework for Peace and Security in the Pacific
Goals: Role and works of Young Leaders Network for Peace and Security (YLNP) in:
- Monitor situation of Pacific and;
- Reconciliation initiatives for conflicts
Delegates and Speakers:
- Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-Founder, Chairman, Boston Global Forum
- Kitty Dukakis, Former First Lady of Massachusetts
- Professor Kosaku Dairokuno ,Dean, School of Political Science and Economics, Meiji University
- Nguyen Anh Tuan, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, Boston Global Forum
- Professor Thomas E. Patterson, Co-Founder, Member of Board of Directors, Member of Editorial Board, Boston Global Forum; Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, Harvard Kennedy School.
- Nobue Mita, Boston Global Forum Representative in Japan
- Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, President of the America-Japan Society, Inc., Professor of Sophia University and Keio University, Former Ambassador to the US
- Ambassador Seiichi Kondo, Director, Kondo Institute for Culture & Diplomacy, Ambassador, Special Envoy for U.N. Affairs, Project Professor, UTokyo Policy Alternative Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Former Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs
- Masahiko Sasajima, Senior Research Fellow, Yomiuri Research Institute, Yomiuri Shimbun Newspaper
- Roya Mahboob, Member, Young Leaders Network for Peace and Security, Co-Founder, Board Memeber, Digital Citizen Fund, CEO, President, Afghan Citadel Software Company, The 2013 TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World
- Professor Suzanne P. Ogden, Member of Editorial Board, Boston Global Forum, Professor and Interim Chair of Northeastern University’s Department of Political Science
- Yasumasa Yamamoto, Japan Young Leader.
- Nguyen Van Tuong, Member, Young Leaders Network for Peace and Security, Director, Khanh Hoa Aquilaria Company
The conference will focus on the resolutions to implement the Framework for Peace and Security in the Pacific. The Framework was official few days ago after series of online international conferences led by Governor Michael Dukakis and Professor Joseph Nye to address the problem of peace and security in the Pacific.
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
GOVERNOR MICHAEL DUKAKIS
Co-Founder; Chairman of The Board of Directors and Board of Thinkers, The Boston Global Forum. Democratic Party Nominee for President of the United States, 1988. Distinguished Professor J.D., Harvard University
Michael Stanley Dukakis was born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Greek immigrant parents. He attended Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School and served in the United States Army from 1955-1957, sixteen months of which was with the support group to the U.S. delegation to the Military Armistice Commission in Korea.
He served eight years as a member of the Massachusetts legislature and was elected governor of Massachusetts three times. He was the Democratic nominee for the presidency in 1988. Since 1991 he has been a distinguished professor of political science at Northeastern University in Boston, and since 1996 visiting professor of public policy during the winter quarter at UCLA in Los Angeles. He is chairman of Boston Global Forum. He is married to the former Kitty Dickson. They have three children—John, Andrea and Kara—and eight grandchildren.
PROFESSOR KOSAKU DAIROKUNO
Dean, School of Political Science and Economics, Meiji University
Currently Dean of the School of Political Science and Economics. After he earned his BA at the School of Law, Meiji University, he has shifted his focus of study from law to political science. He earned his MA in Comparative Politics at the Graduate School of Political Science and Economics at Meiji University. And, immediately after he completed all the necessary course work for Ph,D, he was given a position of lecturer at the School of Political Science and Economics. He has been with the same school ever since. In the meantime, he was a visiting scholar and professor at various institutions such as Asian Pacific Studies Institute of Duke University, the Department of Politics of Northeastern University, the National School of Public Administration of Laos, and the National University of Laos. Currently he has been studying the relationships between “political corruption” and the structure of government.
NGUYEN ANH TUAN
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of The Boston Global Forum.
Nguyen Anh Tuan was the Founder and Chairman of the VietNamNet Media Group and the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of VietNamNet Online Newspaper. Tuan was also the Founder and CEO of the VASC Software and Media Company and VietNet, the first Internet service provider in Vietnam. In 1996, Tuan was named as one of the Top Ten Outstanding Young Talents of Vietnam by the Prime Minister. Under Tuan’s leadership, VietNamNet raised significant political topics for reform in Vietnam. He pioneered an interactive live format called the “VietNamNet Online Roundtable” that enabled readers to participate in interviews of leading political, social and cultural figures. In 2009, Tuan conceived a global initiative called the “World Compassion and Reconciliation Day” on September 9th of each year. In 2007, as the Shorenstein Center’s Fellow, Tuan researched key trends in the development of electronic media in Vietnam. In 2011, Tuan was a part of the Pacific Leadership Fellows Program at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California in San Diego. That year, he was also a speaker at the prestigious annual Club de Madrid Conference on the subject of Democracy and Digital Technology. Since February 2011, Tuan has been an Associate of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. In April 2012, he founded the Tran Nhan Tong Academy . In December 2012, Tuan co-founded the Boston Global Forum with the Honorable Michael Dukakis who was Massachusetts Governor and U.S. Presidential Nominee, and currently serving as the Boston Global Forum’s Chief Executive Board and Editor-in-Chief . Also in 2012, together with Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Tuan established the Charles Ansbacher Music Club to bring classical music to people who live in remote and distant locations. Tuan has been a member of Harvard Business School Global Advisory Board since 2008. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Free for All Concert Fund in Boston.
PROFESSOR THOMAS E. PATTERSON
Co-Founder, Member of Board of Directors, Boston Global Forum; Mentor, Young Leaders Network for Peace and Security; Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, Harvard Kennedy School
Thomas E. Patterson is Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press of Harvard Kennedy School and a co-founding member of BGF’s Board of Directors. His book, The Vanishing Voter, looks at the causes and consequences of electoral participation. His earlier book on the media’s political role, Out of Order, received the American Political Science Association’s Graber Award as the best book of the decade in political communication. His first book, The Unseeing Eye, was named by the American Association for Public Opinion Research as one of the 50 most influential books on public opinion in the past half century. He also is author of Mass Media Election and two general American government texts: The American Democracy and We the People. His articles have appeared in Political Communication, Journal of Communication, and other academic journals, as well as in the popular press. His research has been funded by the Ford, Markle, Smith-Richardson, Pew, Knight, Carnegie, and National Science foundation. Patterson received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1971.
AMBASSADOR ICHIRO FUJISAKI
Mentor, Young Leaders Network for Peace and Security, President of the America-Japan Society, Inc., Professor of Sophia University and Keio University, Former Ambassador of Japan to the United States (2008-2012)
Ichiro Fujisaki is currently President of America-Japan Society in Japan. He is also a distinguished professor of Sophia University and Keio University, both in Tokyo. Additionally, he is advisor to the metropolitan city of Tokyo.
Fujisaki served as the Ambassador of Japan to the United States 2008 through October 2012.
During this period, there were frequent changes in Japanese leadership, but he stayed on as a point person between Japan and the United States. Fujisaki was instrumental in bridging Japan and the US following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that occurred in March 2011. He frequently appeared on all forms of media, including national TV news shows. He was engaged in all of Japan’s negotiations with the US on security and trade issues, including Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) consultations. Fujisaki has visited nearly all the fifty states, has met with local leaders, and has appeared on local media outlets.
Fujisaki is well connected to Japan’s political, bureaucratic, and business circles, having served more than 40 years in the Japanese government. As the Deputy Foreign Minister, he served as Prime Minister Koizumi’s personal representative to the G8 Summit as Sherpa. He was Japan’s chief trade negotiator and headed the teams for Free Trade Area agreement negotiations with the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. He has initiated and headed Deputy Ministerial dialogue with China. He also frequently traveled to India to lay the groundwork for large scale infrastructure projects which are currently underway. Fujisaki joined the Foreign Ministry of Japan in 1969 after passing the High Level Diplomatic Examination. He has served 20 years abroad and 23 years in Tokyo during his career.
Fujisaki is married to Yoriko Kashiwagi, daughter of Kazuko and the late Yusuke Kashiwagi, who was the CEO of The Bank of Tokyo. They have two daughters, Mari and Emi.
AMBASSADOR SEIICHIO KONDO
Special advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs; Specially-appointed professor at the University of Tokyo; Former Commissioner, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan
Graduate, Faculty of Education and Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, University of Tokyo. 1972, with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan including: Ambassador, UNESCO; Chief Negotiator for international trade negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda of World Trade Organization and for the Japan-Chile Economic Partnership Agreement; First Director-General, Department of Public Diplomacy; Director-General, Department of Cultural Exchanges; Deputy Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris; Deputy Director-General, Economic Affairs Bureau; Counsellor for Public Affairs then Minister, Embassy of Japan in Washington; 2008, Ambassador to Denmark; since July 2010, Commissioner, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan.
NOBUE MITA
Boston Global Forum Representative in Japan
Ms. Nobue Mita is a graduate of the Department of French Literature at Rikkyo University. She worked at Fujitsu Limited, Mitsubishi Corporation as an event producer for a prominent shef.
Ms. Mita is the founder of the Rakushokai – a monthly study group for business executive with special prominent lecturer, held for eight years since September of 2006.
In 2011, Ms. Mita organized a charity concert for the Great East Japan Earthquake with a former Japanese ambassador to the United States.
In 2012, Ms. Mita organized a Christmas charity bazaar for the Great East Japan Earthquake at the Tokyo American Club.
Ms. Mita has been the representative of the Boston Global Forum JAPAN since March 2013.
ROYA MAHBOOB
Member, Young Leader Network for Peace and Security, CEO, Afghan Citadel Software Company, Co-Founder, Digital Citizen Fund, Time Magazine 2013’s 100 Most Influential People in the World
Roya Mahboob’s an Afghan entrepreneur and businesswoman. She founded and serves as CEO of the Afghan Citadel Software Company, a full-service software development company based in Herat, Afghanistan and is a co-founder of the Womens Annex Foundation (womensannexfoundation.org), whose mission is “womens digital literacy for social good”. She’s among the first IT female CEOs in Afghanistan. Roya was named one of TIME Magazine’s 2013 100 Most Influential People in the World for her work building Internet classrooms in high schools in Afghanistan, and for Women’s Annex, a multilingual blog and video site.
PROFESSOR SUZANNE P.OGDEN
Professor and Interim Chair of Northeastern University’s Department of Political Science
Professor Suzanne P. Ogden is a Professor and Interim Chair of Northeastern University’s Department of Political Science. Professor Ogden’s areas of study include comparative politics, Chinese politics, democratization and development in China, international relations, US-China relations, and US policy towards Asia.
During her career, Professor Ogden has written and edited numerous publications, which include Inklings of Democracy in China and China’s Unresolved Issues: Politics, Development and Culture. Professor Ogden has also held positions as: Research Associate at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for East Asian Research; as a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University’s Wolfson College; Visiting Scholar at National University of Singapore’s East Asian Research Institute; Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University’s Faculty of Oriental Studies; Fulbright Lecturer at the Foreign Affairs College of the Chinese Foreign Ministry; as a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Contemporary China; and, as a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
Currently Professor Ogden teaches both graduate and undergraduate level courses on international relations, urban planning in China, Chinese politics, and Chinese foreign policy. Professor Ogden holds a PhD from Brown University.
by Admin | Mar 20, 2015 | Event Updates
(BGF) – On the night of March 19, 2015 (Vietnam local time), the Phillips Exeter Academy had its successful final concert show in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, ending its 14-day tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of normalization of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States.
Phillips Exeter Academy’s Concert Choir and Chamber Orchestra brought the message of “Peace and Innovation”, traveled the length of Vietnam, from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City performing concerts of classical Western music and Vietnamese folk songs in partner with musicians and vocalists from the Vietnam National Academy of Music and from the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music.
The Phillips Exeter Academy concert show in Ho Chi Minh City
Rohan Smith, the conductor of Phillips Exeter Academy Chamber Orchestra, stressed in his speech: “We believe that the most important way to build peace and understanding is very simple. It is by bringing together people from different countries and cultures to get to know each and to experience each others lives and traditions….”
Let’s read his full speech below:
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests –
On behalf of my colleagues from Phillips Exeter Academy – Peter Schultz, chair of the Music Department, Kristofer Johnson, Choral Director, Vanessa Holroyd, Tour Manager, and the members of the Phillips Exeter Academy Concert Choir and Chamber Orchestra – I would like to warmly thank HCMC Conservatory of Music for welcoming us to perform this very special concert in HCMC at the conclusion of our 2015 Concert Tour of Vietnam.
The goal of Global Initiatives program of Phillips Exeter Academy is to increase the opportunities for international engagement for Phillips Exeter Academy students, in order that we live up to our promise to impart both knowledge and goodness on the global stage.
On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of Normalization of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States, we are truly honored to visit Vietnam on a mission of cultural exchange, to build connections and understanding between the people of the United States and Vietnam and tonight, the people of HCMC.
We are bringing a message of “Peace and Innovation” with a mission of connecting young people of Vietnam and the US through musical exchange, as young people will take us into the future, taking the lead by innovating ideas and solutions to build a more peaceful and secure world together.
We believe that the most important way to build peace and understanding is very simple. It is by bringing together people from different countries and cultures to get to know each and to experience each others lives and traditions. We believe that a wonderful way to build connections and understanding is through music, which is a language that we all understand and which is a language of beauty and peace.
Our tour and its mission has been conceived and inspired in an invaluable partnership with the Boston Global Forum and its CEO, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan. I would like to acknowledge Mr. Tuan’s extraordinary support for this mission and the support of his superb staff in Vietnam. I would also like to acknowledge the US Embassy in Hanoi and the US Consulate in HCMC for their incredible support and help in creating additional opportunities for our students.
Although our concert tour of Vietnam ends tonight, the message of “Peace and Innovation ” will continue to resonate throughout this special anniversary year of 20 years of Vietnam – US relations with many events and activities.
An important event of significance is the International Conference on “Peace and Innovation” in Nha Trang on July Vietnam 11, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Khanh Hoa government. We are very proud and honored that the envoys bringing this message will be the students of Phillips Exeter Academy Concert Choir and Chamber Orchestra.
The musical exchange between the young people of Phillips Exeter Academy and Vietnam, will be introduced by video to the members of the Young Leaders Network for Peace and Security, and to members of Boston Global Forum, who include highly influential policy makers in the world in business, science, the arts and education.
Philips Exeter Academy students will be able to participate in opportunities for dialogue on critical questions of peace, the environment and global security with members of the Young Leaders Network for Peace and Security .
We strongly believe the July 11 conference ” Peace and Innovation” in Nha Trang will be very successful. We wish the best to the conference, to the Vietnamese people, and hope the conference will inspire new initiatives in peace, innovation.
During our visit we have had so many extraordinary experiences in your beautiful county. We have learned to love the rich and diverse musical traditions, the extraordinary landscapes, the endlessly delicious food and above all the generosity, openness and enormous personal warmth of the beautiful people of Vietnam.
We have learned that Vietnam is a country that lives with pride by its own terms and is also country that is extraordinarily open and welcoming to innovation and partnership in a globally interrelated world.
In the words of Candide, which we will sing for you later, “We’ll do the best we know …. and Make our Garden Grow”
Thank you and enjoy the Concert!
Rohan Smith
Conductor
Chamber Orchestra, Phillips Exeter Academy
