On November 8th (Friday), Mr. Santiago Pardo, Ambassador Extraordinary, and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Colombia in Japan visited Soka University and gave a lecture in the class of Soka University Professor Hideki Tamai of the Faculty of Letters called “Environment and Development” which approximately 800 students attended.

Before the lecture, Ambassador Santiago met with Soka University President Yoshihisa Baba, where the ambassador talked about the exchanges of art between Colombia and Japan through the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, founded by the Soka University founder Dr. Daisaku Ikeda. He expressed that cultural and art exchanges will become increasingly important, and in an exchange between the two countries, the Colombian Embassy hopes to support the interactions between Soka University and universities in Colombia. The ambassador also asked questions pertaining to the Spanish language class.

In his lecture, which was given under the theme, “Vision of Colombia’s Development through Agreements for Sustainability,” the ambassador referred to a circulation-type economy as a state policy plan as well as a long-term policy plan for legitimate peace-building based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). After the lecture, many questions were asked by the students, and a lively question and answer session took place.