H. E. Mr. Jean-Eric Paquet, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the European Union to Japan, delivered a lecture at Hokkaido University

On Thursday, June 29, 2023, H. E. Mr. Jean-Eric Paquet, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the European Union to Japan, gave a lecture at Akira Suzuki Hall of the Frontier Research in Applied Sciences Building under the theme of “EU-Japan Relations in a Changing World.”

Approx. 200 students, faculty and staff attended the lecture, including students taking the “History of European Politics” course taught by Professor Tadashi Nakamura, Graduate School of Law, and students from Nitobe College, filling the venue to capacity.

After a greeting and an introduction of Ambassador Paquet by Professor Nakamura, Ambassador Paquet explained the history of the EU, the EU’s response to crises, climate change and environmental issues, as well as the EU-Japan relationship including EU-Japan cooperation in the security field and the G7 Hiroshima Summit in May 2023. He also gave a message to the participating students that they should definitely visit Europe.

In the Q&A session, participants asked questions such as “citizens’ participation on climate issues in EU,” “areas of cooperation to be strengthened under the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA),” “specific ways to strengthen cooperation between the EU and Japan in the future,” and “measures to address labor environment and environmental issues related to the resources required for electric vehicles which the EU and Japan are promoting.”

The event was a great success with many students surrounding Ambassador Paquet to ask more questions even after his lecture.

H. E. Mr. Jean-Eric Paquet delivering a lecture

The venue of the lecture

Text and photos provided by Division of International Relations