Dr. Chung-Duk Kim, Chairman of KOSEF
Prof. Toru Nomura and Prof. Chong-Shik Chin, Co-Chairmen of the Joint Committee,
and committee members:

On behalf of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, I would like to extend a cordial welcome to the distinguished members of the Korean Delegation and to the distinguished Japanese Committee members on the occasion of this thirteenth meeting of the Japan-Korea Joint Committee for Basic Scientific Research.

I am most pleased to have this opportunity to be here with you and to offer a few remarks at the opening of this important meeting.

As a core organization for advancing science, JSPS implements programs for fostering young researchers, awarding research grants, and promoting international cooperation. The latter, promoting international cooperation, is an especially important part of JSPS's overall program. JSPS now has scientific cooperation agreements with 78 organizations in 42 countries. Among them, KOSEF is the most important partner for JSPS. Many projects are running between JSPS and KOSEF.

Under this situation, this Joint Committee has contributed significantly for promoting joint research projects and seminars over the past 12 years. Since 1991, 202 research projects and 95 seminars have been successfully carried out. I am very pleased to learn that through these activities, researchers in our countries are developing both professional and personal ties and that, year by year, these relationships are growing even stronger.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the Committee members who have worked so hard to advance this bilateral program over the years.

In today's meeting, we will carry out a general review of last year's activities, and will discuss and select new projects for this year. I am confident that the discussion today will be most fruitful in bringing about the effective implementation of this year's program.

Thank you very much.