Chairpersons :	LI Lianjun (China) Romeo R. GAGUI (Philippines) Mohammad A. ZAFAR (Pakistan) Kyaw ZEYA (Myanmar)
Coordinator :	Eisuke Kudo (SOF)

　

　The Closing Session was declared open by Mr. Eisuke Kudo at 09:30 at the Conference Hall on the second floor of the Nippon Zaidan Building. The Chairpersons of the Parallel Sessions and the Network Workshop reported orally about the discussions held by the participants in the pervious day's conferences at the Akasaka Prince Hotel.

　

　The summary report of the Parallel Session 1: Port and Shipping Management by Li Lianjun was followed by a question from the floor about cabotage from a legal point of view, which was deftly answered by the Session Chairperson who referred to coastal shipping in the Southeast Asian countries.

　

　Mr. Romeo Gagui read a report of the Parallel Session 2: Maritime Safety and Maritime Environment Protection, adding the following comments: 1) Implementation of MSEP measures are hampered by lack of financial and human resources, which necessitates unified regional approaches; 2) Japan and WMU are expected to work as driving force of MSEP efforts; 3) Cooperation is to be given from government and private sectors, and 4) WMU Sasakawa Fellows can play a crucial role in information exchange and collaboration through the network-based regular communication and consultation.

　

　Mr. Mohammad A. Zafar delivered a report of the Parallel Session 3: Education and Training for Maritime Affairs, which was followed by a comment from the floor on the importance of practical ship board training which would not be entirely replaced by training using simulators, however widely such modern contrivances may prevail.

　

　Then Mr. Kyaw Zeya introduced the discussions at the Plenary Meeting of the Network Workshop. 14 out of 17 country/region representatives gave presentation of the discussions held at their respective group sessions. Unanimous support was voiced by all the representatives for the creation and maintenance of the Sasakawa Fellows' Network with SOF as its hub.

　

　Mr. Zeya recounted the process of making the WMU Japan Sasakawa Fellows' Resolution: the original text was jointly drafted by the chairing groups; the draft was distributed to all the Fellows for comments and suggestions, and the Resolution text was finalized by incorporating the comments and suggestions from the Fellows. He read aloud the final version of the text and asked for comments once again from the floor. Admitting a small modification of the text suggested by a Jamaican Fellow, the representatives voiced support for the Resolution, and Mr. Zeya declared that it was adopted unanimously.

　

　Mr. Eisuke Kudo then came to the helm and made the closing remark, text of which begins from the next page. WMU Japan Sasakawa Fellows Forum was declared closed by Mr. Kudo at 12:00 a.m.