On November 8, 2023, the 3rd International Cooperation Talk Show was held in the lecture room of the Faculty of Economics. Two speakers were invited to talk about the SDGs, their efforts, and the need for international cooperation. The first speaker was Professor Sanjay K Bhardwaj from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. The first half of the presentation focused on Goal 5 of the SDGs, “Gender Equality,” while the second half on that in India and South Asia. Using numbers and pie charts, Professor Sanjay explained, in an easy-to-understand manner, the global current rate of progress for gender equality and the situation in India and South Asia. During the Q&A session after the lecture, Bangladeshi students asked questions, and we were able to learn about gender initiatives and ideas from a variety of perspectives. The second speaker, Mika Mizuno, who works as an international cooperation promoter at Yamaguchi JICA Bureau, spoke on the theme: Local Needs and Self-Reliance Support. The lecture began with the question: Why does Japan continue to provide cooperation and support to other countries in the face of difficult circumstances? It was not just about the need for international aid, but about the need to provide skills for countries to become “self-reliant” and achieve sustainable growth. After the lecture, several students from the Faculty of Economics were interested in Ms. Mizuno’s activities and were asking questions.

We plan to hold this talk show series regularly, and the next one will be around December. Through this event, we would like to provide an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the Asia-Africa region and we hope this event leads to an increase in the momentum for promoting exchange with the Asia-Africa region both inside and outside the university.

The lecture will be posted on the university website later.