Jakarta, 24 June 2024: President Tetsuya Watanabe, accompanied by Prof. Akiko Yamanaka, Special Adviser to the President of ERIA, and Dr Giulia Ajmone Marsan, Head of Startups and Inclusion at ERIA, warmly welcomed the visit of H.E. Vicky Singmin, the Canadian Ambassador to ASEAN, and Marie-Claude Mallet, Trade and Economics Counsellor at the Canada Mission to ASEAN, to the ERIA office.

Prof. Akiko Yamanaka, H.E. Vicky Singmin, Dr Giulia Ajmone Marsan, and Marie-Claude Mallet discussed possible future collaborations related to the recently initiated ERIA–ASEAN IPR project titled ‘Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) and Women in the Digital Economy (WDE): Understanding Synergies for the Future of ASEAN.’ This initiative aims to explore the connections between WPS and women’s involvement in the digital economy within the ASEAN area. This follow-up meeting was conducted after a high-level kick-off meeting of this new initiative on 19 June at ERIA’s Digital Innovation and Sustainable Economy Center (E-DISC).

ERIA and the Canada Mission to ASEAN expressed a keen interest in working together on the further phases of the project and synergising for a better future ASEAN.