Sasakawa Peace Foundation Announces Reorganization

TOKYO, April 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sasakawa Peace Foundation (President: Atsushi Sunami, Minato-ku, Tokyo) is pleased to announce the following reorganization.

1. The Asia Program Unit and Islam Program Unit have been merged into the Asia and Middle East Program Unit.
2. The Asia and Middle East Program and the Peacebuilding Program have been established as part of the Asia and Middle East Program Unit.
3. The Pacific Island Nations Program has been transferred from the Security Studies Program to the Ocean Policy Research Institute.

Since FY 2017, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) has set "understanding and strengthening relations with Islamic countries" as one of its five priority goals, and until now the foundation's Middle East and Islam Program has worked toward this goal by mainly focusing on countries in the Middle East. In order to further strengthen our efforts toward Islamic countries in Asia, the Middle East and Islam Program has been integrated into the newly established Asia and Middle East Program, with the aim of bringing together the foundation's expertise and perspectives on Islam in both Asia and the Middle East.

SPF also established the Peacebuilding Program in order to build upon the foundation's experience with peacebuilding initiatives accumulated over the past 10 years through efforts mainly in Southern Thailand.

In addition, the Pacific Island Nations Program, which has worked to contribute to the stability and prosperity of the Pacific region and its island nations since 1989, has been transferred from the Security Studies Program to the Ocean Policy Research Institute to further support efforts to strengthen relations between Japan and Pacific island countries based on mutual understanding.