Remarks of Consul-General Hidenobu Sobashima at AEU-STU 2013 Education Exchange Conference on Tuesday 13 August 2013
Ms Meredith Peace, President and Members of the Victorian Branch of the
Australian Education Union,
Mr Satoru Koyama, General Secretary and Leader and Members of the Delegation of the Shizuoka Teachers’ Union,
Participants in the AEU-STU 2013 Education Exchange Conference,
Good morning.
I appreciate this opportunity to say a few words at the opening of the AEU-STU 2013 Education Exchange Conference.
As a resident here, I would like to welcome the Delegation of the Shizuoka Teachers’ Union.
Also, joining the Japanese side, I would like to thank the Victorian Branch of the Australian Education Union for hosting this conference.
I am glad to have learned that the AEU-STU exchanges have been continuing for 17 years, as Victoria receives today the 16th delegation of 19 members from Shizuoka, Japan, making the total number of participants from the prefecture about 500.
From Victoria, too, teachers and union officials have been visiting Shizuoka since 2000, and this year’s delegation will be due next month.
Japan and Australia have developed a strong friendly and cooperative relationship covering various areas.
As for economic relationship, until recently Japan had been Australia’s largest trading partner for nearly 40 years.
While Japan is no longer Australia’s largest trading partner, it is still one of the major trading partners and has remained the largest source of trade surplus for Australia.
In the areas of education, since 1987, 26 years ago, Australia has been sending young men and women to Japan to assist Japanese schools teaching English, as participants of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, or the JET Program.
Just last month we saw off 132 Australians to Japan as new JETs, including 28 from Victoria.
Also last month the Hon Louise Asher, Minister for State Development, Business and Innovation of Victoria, announced that the program of sending mature Victorians overseas for foreign language learning called the Hamer Scholarship will be expanded to cover not only Chinese and Indonesian languages, but also Japanese and Korean.
Last year the Government of Australia released a White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century where the Japanese language was identified as one of the four priority foreign languages, among others.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced his economic policies, frequently referred to as Abenomics, for the purpose of achieving economic growth in Japan after suffering from deflation for two decades.
In his growth strategy, one of his three arrows, so to speak, human resources development, particularly supporting the success of women, is an essential component.
We should not forget that, out of 364 Victorian schools which have foreign sister schools, 66 schools have sister-school arrangements with Japanese schools, the largest for Victoria, larger than its sister-school relations with any other country.
Against this background, I appreciate this AEU-STU Education Exchange as a very important endeavor.
I hope you will have a successful exchange.
Thank you.