Japan-Searca partnership

MANILA, Philippines - Japan and the Philippine government-hosted Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO SEARCA) continue to collaborate in research and human resource development initiative — a partnership that dates to the 1970s.

Japan, through Ambassador Toshinao Urabe (left), and SEARCA, through Director Gil Saguiguit Jr., affirmed their continued cooperation during a “Symposium on Japan-Philippines Strategic Partnership” held recently at SEARCA on the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) campus co-organized by UPLB and the Philippine Association of Japanese Government Scholars-South Luzon chapter.

Saguiguit said Japan has contributed in no small measure to the agricultural development of the 11 member-countries of SEAMEO (SEARCA’s mother organization) which the center is mandated to serve. Expressing SEARCA’s gratitude for the Japanese government’s assistance, Saguiguit presents to Ambassador Urabe the center’s institutional symbol titled “Growth.”