Nagoya University officially opens International Station for Tropical Agricultural Sciences in the Philippines

Los Baños, Laguna -- Nagoya University (NU) officially opened the International Station for Tropical Agricultural Sciences (ISTAS) in the Philippines based at University of the Philipines Los Baños (UPLB) in a ceremony held at SEARCA, UPLB Campus, College, Laguna on 11 February 2019.

Mr. Tetsuharu Mori, First Secretary and Agriculture Attache’ of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines representing the Ambassador Mr. Koji Haneda, graced the occasion to deliver the congratulatory message from the Ambassador.

The ceremony was attended by a big delegation from NU, Japan, headed by its President, Dr. Seiichi Matsuo, and guests and officials and staff from different international and local agencies such as IRRI, SEARCA, ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB), Philippine Carabao Center (PCC), Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), UPLB officials, vice chancellors, deans and professors from UPLB and Visayas State University (VSU), as well as NU doctoral students, and officers and members of the NU Alumni-Philippine Branch (NUAL-Ph) headed by its President, Dr. Pag-Asa D. Gaspillo.

In his host greetings, President Matsuo announced that the main station of ISTAS is UPLB with sub-station at VSU. He said that the ISTAS is conceived as an “agora of human wisdom,” an international platform rich in diversity with the goal of gathering the top researchers, students, and staff members from all over the world to cooperate and learn from each other in order to come up with solutions to global issues and lay the foundations for a better future.
He acknowledged the tremendous support from partners like SEARCA, UPLB and IRRI and looked forward to having more collaborative activities with them and other Philippine-based agencies in the near future.

Professor Fumio Isoda, Director of the NU Asian Satellite Campuses Institute (ASCI), welcomed the guests to the ceremony and explained further the nature of the ISTAS Project.

A message from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) was read by Ms. Ayako Matsumura of NU ASCI.
Other heads and representatives of partner institutions who greeted NU at the opening of ISTAS were Mr. AJ Poncin representing Director General Matthew Morell of IRRI, Chancellor Fernando C. Sanchez, Jr., UPLB Chancellor and Chair of SEARCA Governing Board, Dr. Edgardo E. Tulin, VSU President, and Dr. Pag-asa D. Gaspillo, NUAL-Ph President.

This was followed by a presentation of the programs of the Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences (GSBS) by Dr. Kazuhito Kawakita, Dean of GSBS and the Graduate School of International
Development (GSID) by Dr. Sanae Ito, former GSID Dean, and Dr. Akira Yamauchi, Director of International Center for Reserch and Education at NU closed the program.



The ceremony was highlighted with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between NU and VSU, witnessed by Prof. Isoda, Mr. Mori, Chancellor Sanchez, and Dr. Othello B. Capuno, VSU VP for Research and Extension. (written by e. cedicol)