TUFS Student Wins Award for Excellence in International Issues Presentation Contest

December 20, 2023

Ms. Nguyen Nhat Mai, a third-year student of the School of International and Area Studies, won the Excellence Award at the 39th International Issues Presentation Contest held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan on Saturday, November 5, 2023.

The theme of the contest was "My Proposal: Our Future ASEAN-Japan Relations on the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation" in light of the upcoming Special Summit for the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation. The six finalists who passed the preliminary screening out of 139 student groups were selected to participate in the finals.

Ms. Nguyen's proposal was titled "Diplomacy for Food Security: The Potential for Closer Japan-ASEAN Relations”.

Ms. Nguyen's award-winning comment:

In this year's presentation contest, I made a proposal with the theme of "Diplomacy for Food Security," using rice, which is shared by Japan and ASEAN countries, as the topic. Based on the idea of "equal give and take, with efforts commensurate in terms of mutual value," I focused on strengthening mutual cooperation between Japan and ASEAN in sharing knowledge and human resource development to build a sustainable system to cope with the food crisis.

The most difficult part of the preparation phase of the competition was to formulate policies while taking into account the diversity of ASEAN countries and the problems they face. In the end, I came to the conclusion that food security is a common challenge that requires urgent cooperation on both sides, taking into account climate change and today's international situation, and I hope to gain more insight by actually visiting the affected areas.