From May 2 to May 7, four students from Soka University—Akemi Funato, Hitomi Imamura, Shinko Nagataki and Kenji Tanaka—participated in the Asian Youth Forum, held in Yokohama as a part of the 50th Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting.

The Asian Development Bank is an international financial institution established to foster economic growth and cooperation in the Asia Pacific region and contribute to the economic development of developing member nations and territories. At the annual meeting, over 3,000 people comprised of national finance ministers and central bank governors, leaders of private financial institutions and NGO representatives, gather to discuss economic and social development issues in the region.

In line with this year’s meeting theme “Building Together the Prosperity of Asia,” the Asian Youth Forum consisted of special lectures, panel discussions and group discussions structured in four parts: Team and Skills Building, Community Engagement, Networking and Learning, and Presentations, Feedbacks and Conclusions.

“It was a great learning opportunity,” said Funato. “What stands out to me was the group discussion in which I discussed Tajikistan’s water problem and possible solutions with youth from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and other Asian countries. Based on the participants’ different national and cultural backgrounds and the limitations posed on us by language, it was a heated debate. I realized how crucial it is in international settings to maintain an attitude of mutual respect for our dialogue partners and consciously engage in the sharing of tacit knowledge.”