The Center for Preventive Diplomacy, a nongovernmental foreign policy organization, will work to prevent regional and ethnic conflicts from erupting in the wake of the Cold War, said former U.N. undersecretary general Yasushi Akashi, during the group's inaugural meeting Monday.
Akashi is chairman of the center, which is linked to the Japan Forum on International Relations, a private, non-profit foreign policy think tank. It was founded by 41 private organizations and 55 individuals.
As its initial project, the center will dispatch three field workers to Sri Lanka, Macedonia, Ukraine and Middle East countries to work in the projects of overseas NGOs and have them report to the center to lay the groundwork, said center's president, Kenichi Ito.
The center will also coordinate projects with governments and private organizations at home and abroad, offer training for field workers and engage in research and publication activities.
Ito said that to prevent such conflicts as the Kosovo crisis, "it is very important to take preventive measures before a conflict becomes so large as to require air strikes by NATO."
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, in a message to the center, said the government will work harder on conflict prevention activities. "The private-sector efforts are also indispensable for effective prevention of conflicts," he said.