The 1st International SDGs Forum and the 2nd Open Forum "Connecting to the World" was held

The 1st International SDGs Forum and the 2nd Open Forum “Connecting to the World” organized by the Engineering Academy of Japan SDGs Project was held in IUJ on January 28th, 2018. IUJ co-organized the event. The morning sessions focus on the financial issues associated with SDGs. Associate Professor of Finance at IUJ, Haruyoshi Ito delivered the opening remarks and presented overview of SDGs finance scheme in Japan and all over the world. 2nd year Master student at GSIM in IUJ, Moses Ayuk Bate presented SDGs Implementation in an Evolving Global Development Finance Landscape. He summarized the financial SDGs situation in Africa. Dr. Zin Zhou of Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) presented the “SDG Interlinkages and Social Network Analysis: Finance in SDGs”. She showed the methodologies which could be utilized to establish the financial scheme and indicators to enhance the achievement of SDGs in Japan.

In the afternoon, President Itami gave welcome remarks. Associate Professor Ito delivered the opening remarks in lieu of Professor Kitagawa at Aoyama Gakuin University. Dr. Haruo Takeda presented the possible collaborations among industry, academia, and government for SDGs. After that 11 IUJ students representing 9 countries (Senegal, Uzbekistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, South Africa, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, and Madagascar) presented about the 7 SDGs (No Poverty, Quality of Education, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry
Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).

After the presentations, all participants form groups associated with each goal and discuss about 1. Real issues in their countries, 2. What are the possible solutions, and 3. How Japanese
Corporations/Institutions could help with these issues? All groups had active and fruitful discussions. Japanese participants looked happy with the interaction with IUJ students and said they were able to understand the real issues and how we could establish the effective financial scheme. We do hope this opportunity is a great initiative and first step to connect the world and achieve 17 SDGs.

This forum was organized with help of the Engineering Academy of Japan, Study Group of Innovation for Value Creation, staff from Hitachi Corporations, IUJ staff, faculty, and students. Special thanks given to all of IM and IR council listed below. Thank you very much for all of your support.

IM Council

· Mariam January
· Zoubeir Tkiouat
· Parvina Khujaeva
· Omer Mohammedahmed
· Asma Bahri
· Nguyen Minh Quan
· Yousra OUAHABI AL HASSANI
· Yosuke Kumagai
· Akinori Shimura

IR Council

· Nini Tskhvariashvili
· Nina Moce
· Eze Okechukwu Ignatius
· Jhaine Lyka A. Villa
· Mbali Sexwale
· Kimberly Chan

Schedule of the forum

The 1st International SDGs Forum
The 2nd Open Forum “Connecting to the World”

1. Financial Session Program

10:00-10:05	Opening Remarks Associate Professor of Finance at IUJ, Dr. Haruyoshi Ito
10:05-10:20	SDGs Finance in Japan and all over the World: Cases and Proposed FrameworkAssociate Professor of Finance at IUJ, Dr. Haruyoshi Ito
10:20-10:40	Sustainable development goals implementation in an evolving global development finance landscapeMBA Candidate at IUJ, Moses Mohamed Ayuk
10:40-11:00	SDG Interlinkages and Social Network Analysis: Finance in SDGs Principal Policy Researcher and Research Leader at Strategic and Quantitative Analysis Centre (QAC), IGES, Dr. Xin Zhou
11:00-11:20	Discussion and Brainstorming for the Creation of New Financial Indicators
11:20-11:30	Concluding Remarks The Leader for SDGs at the Engineering Academy of Japan, Dr. Haruo Takeda

2. Afternoon Sessions

12:30-12:40	Opening Remarks President of IUJ, Dr. Hiroyuki Itami
12:40-12:50	Significance of the Establishment of Research Group of “SDGs and Finance” Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University/ President at Research Group of Financial SDGs, Dr. Tetsuo Kitagawa
12:50-13:10	Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration for SDGs The Leader for SDGs at the Engineering Academy of Japan, Dr. Haruo Takeda
13:10-15:20	Presentations on current situation and issues in each country from the perspective of SDGs
1. Madagascar’s long walk for achieving SDGs goal n°1: assessment of poverty before and during the political crisis in 2009. Case of Four Neighborhoods in the Capital City AntananarivoRAKOTOARIVELO Zo Havana Iagahajaina 2. Sustainable Development Goals: Promoting Japanese Kaizen in the Senegalese Vocational Training CentersDiarietou Gueye 3. Quality of Education: Online EducationOtabek Kasimov 4. A Window of Opportunity for Union Budget Reform of Education Sector in Myanmar Zin Mar Htwe 5. Participation By Interest Actors In TRIPS Agreement Of WTO: Did cooperation accomplish developing countries hope? E.N.R DE SILVA 6. Gender imbalance in Vietnam My Nguyen 7. Sustaining Women in the Age of Sustainability: A Preliminary Analysis on the Case of an Automotive Industry in South Africa BENNITTA SENYATSI 8. FREE TRADE vs PROTECTIONISM: Free Trade as Driving Force of Economic Growth Dennis Nyaga 9. Can the slippery slope framework be applied in developing countries to raise tax compliance? Case study of Nairobi county, in Kenya Africa. Zelima Ademba 10. OVERVIEW OF ETHIOPIA’S INDUSTRIALIZATION PRACTICES AND CHALLGEs UNDER SDG FRAMEWORK Habtom Welday 11. Sustainability of Tourism industry in Sri Lanka H.A.B.W. Hettiarachchi P.W Mudalige
16:20-16:30	Closing Remarks Executive Director at the Engineering Academy of Japan, Mr. Hiroshi Nagano