Becoming an annual activity among Japanese and Vietnamese students, the Third Vietnamese-Japanese Students’ Scientific Exchange (VJSE) 2006 Meeting was held at Kobe University on November 4-5, 2006. With a variety of disciplines, this year’s VJSE provided chances for professors, researchers, and students to exchange both academic information and cultural activities.

The opening ceremony was held in the morning, in which Japanese professors exchanged their research experiences with students, and some Vietnamese officials and researchers delivered information about Vietnam on different fields. Many questions and comments were raised and discussed.

Opening speeches and invited talks at the Conference Hal

VDF-Tokyo also participated in the Meeting. We introduced numerous VDF publications to the participants, and invited them to present at our monthly workshops as well as other research activities. Participants were particularly interested in the studies related to recent development issues in Vietnam, such as industrial strategy and ODA.

After the Morning Section, we had a Friendship Party, in which we could have good chances to exchange various information. Vietnamese and Japanese students performed both countries’ folk songs and music. We hope that Vietnam and Japan will have better and better relation.

Prof. Seiichi Fujita, Chief Advisor to VJSE2006, delivered speech on Vietnam-Japan relation at the Party

In the Afternoon Section, we had two main workshops. Workshop I was “Biotechnology: Vietnam and East Asia”, and Workshop II was “Vietnam’s Integration to the World Economy: Opportunities and Challenges”. VDF-Tokyo was a sponsor for the Workshop II, along with Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS) and Graduate School of Economics of Kobe University. In the Workshop II, we had three keynote speakers. The first speaker was Dr. Vo Tri Thanh, the Director of Department for International Economic Integration Studies of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), Vietnam. He presented his current research about opportunities and challenges of Vietnam when integrating in the regional and global economies. Prof. Junichi Mori from International Center of Kyoto University was the second speaker. With narrower focus on Vietnamese economy in the integration process, he analyzed the challenges of the financial system. The last speaker of the keynote presentation session was Prof. Yoshiaki Ueda from University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences (UMDS), who discussed about implementing “5S” system in Vietnam in order to strengthen global competitiveness of the Vietnamese enterprises in the post-WTO era.