The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science has
established a new liaison office in Stockholm, Sweden and appointed
Professor Yoshiro Shimura as its director. On Thursday May 31, 2001,
JSPS held a reception at the Sheraton Stockholm to celebrate the opening
of the office.
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It is very meaningful for JSPS to carry out exchanges with Asian countries. Not only is Japan close to these neighbors geographically, but also shares much with them in the way of culture and values. Japan, therefore, desires to strengthen its friendly relations with these countries.

Furthermore, the Asian region possesses a wealth of biological resources and environments, which provide the seeds for a wide spectrum of basic research. From a scientific viewpoint, it would be most effective for researchers of Japan and of region to collaborate in such endeavors.

The Asian Program Division was established within JSPS to carry out a vigorous agenda of exchange with Asian countries. Its programs include the following:

Contents
Core University Program
A3 Foresight Program
Asian CORE Program
AA Science Platform Program
RONPAKU (Dissertation PhD) Program
Asian Science Seminars
Joint Research Projects and seminars with China, India and Korea
Scientist Exchange Program
Strategic Program for Building an Asian Science and Technology Community
Joint Staff Meeting and A-HORCs

The importance of exchange with Asian countries was emphasized in the third Science and Technology Basic Plan (FY2006-FY2010) drawn up by the government. It states the following:

(2) Cooperating with Asian nations

  The government will continue to improve prior international frameworks, and cooperate and collaborate with European nations and the United States of America. It will also strengthen the ties of S&T with Asian nations to fulfill the role that is expected of Japan from both inside and outside the country, in view of international situations, i.e., geographical and environmental accessibility, the rapid improvement of the S&T standards, and the increasing closeness of economic relations. For this reason, the government will strengthen the collaboration of S&T. As such, the government will implement a policy dialogue called "Asian Region S&T Ministerial Summit" (tentative name) at a high level, including ministers involved in S&T policies with Asian nations, based on the existing government-to-government dialogue and interaction by researchers.
  In parallel with this dialogue, the government will strengthen the S&T community with Asian nations through network formation and responses for common challenges in the Asian region by promoting interaction with researchers from Asian nations.