On 3 February 2017, H.E. Mr. Hiroyasu Ando, President of the Japan Foundation and former Ambassador of Japan to Italy, led a delegation of the Japan Foundation Asia Centre Advisory Committee comprising members from both Japan and ASEAN countries to pay a courtesy call on H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs, during their visit to Bangkok for the third Advisory Committee Meeting, first to be held outside of Japan.

During the courtesy call, Ambassador Ando gave a briefing on the Japan Foundation’s activities aimed at promoting Japan’s cultural relations with ASEAN, particularly the WA Project, initiated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2013. Under the said Project, 548 Japanese volunteers have been dispatched to all ASEAN countries, 141 of those to Thailand, to assist local teachers in teaching the Japanese language to local students.

The Foreign Minister complemented the Japanese Government and the Japan Foundation for their active role in promoting cultural relations while emphasing on the importance of people-to-people contact, in particular among the youths, as the foundation of sustainable peace and cooperation in the future.