Contact: Sammy McDavid
Junichi Ihara, economic minister of the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C., is visiting Mississippi this week.
Ihara, who assumed his current diplomatic post in January, will be guest speaker Thursday [May 19] for Jackson's Executive Lecture Forum.
"U.S.-Japan Economic Relations and Community Building in East Asia" will be the topic of his remarks. The luncheon program begins at 11:45 a.m. at the Country Club of Jackson on St. Andrews Drive.
As with all ELF speakers, Ihara's visit is organized by the Janos Radvanyi Chair in International Security Studies at Mississippi State University. While in the state, he's also scheduled to meet with officials of the Mississippi Development Authority, among others.
A member of the Japanese diplomatic corps since graduating from law school in 1979, the 49-year-old Ihara earlier held foreign postings in France and the Philippines. Last year, he was named a Fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.
While ELF programs are not open to the general public, members of the news media always are welcome to attend. If interested in covering the address, editors, reporters and broadcast personnel are asked to telephone (662) 325-8406 as soon as possible to ensure seating at the luncheon.