SINGAPORE -- Earlier this month a closed-door workshop and open public symposium focused on bridging the divisions within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and those between Japan and Okinawa as well as on strengthening the ASEAN-Japan partnership through governance, human security and community-building.

As the first activity under the aegis of the ASEAN-Japan Exchange Year 2003, it brought together representatives of Japanese think tanks and the 10-member ASEAN (comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar).

Held in Okinawa, the Japan-ASEAN Workshop and Symposium was co-organized by the Japan Institute of International Affairs, or JIIA, the Japanese Foreign Ministry and the Okinawa Peace Assistance Center. JIIA President Hisahi Owada chaired the event just before assuming his post as a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.