Arctic Circle General Assembly 2015 was held at the Harpa Conference Center in Reykjavik, Iceland on 16th – 18th October, 2015. Arctic Circle is one of the international assemblies to discuss issues related to the fields of industry, government, and academia. International politics and issues related to indigenous people can also be an item on the agenda. The first assembly was held in 2013 and the government of Iceland has been playing a leading role since then.
Kazuko Shiraishi who is the Japan's Ambassador in charge of Arctic Affairs, Mitsuko Shino who is the Japanese ambassador to Iceland, Takashi Kiyoura who is the former Director of the Ocean and Earth Division in the Research and Development Bureau, MEXT, and Masao Fukasawa who is the Project Director (PD) of the ArCS attended the assembly for this year. Ambassadors Shiraishi and Shino introduced Japan’s Arctic Policy, which was just announced at the first day of the assembly during the plenary session. Japan’s Arctic research policy and the ArCS project were also introduced by Dr. Fukasawa during Japan session. As to the ArCS project, He focused on highlighting the difference from previous research projects, that is, the project aims to clarify social and economic impact and provide the scientific knowledge to the stakeholders worldwide.
There were about 50 participants at the Japan session. Dr. Fukasawa’s talk attracted other countries’ great interest in the Japan’s arctic policy strategy and the ArCS project.
PD explaining about ArCS project
