Contact: Sammy McDavid
NOTE: CORRECTED RELEASE - SUPERSEDES RELEASE SENT 6/10/09.
STARKVILLE, Miss.--An international conference at Mississippi State next week will examine the maritime capacity building of the U.S., Japan, Australia, and other major ocean-focused nations.
Panel discussions during the June 16 and 17 campus event at the Hunter Henry Center are open to interested members of the public.
Expected to involve nearly 40 participants, the event is organized by the university's Radvanyi Center for International Security and Strategic Studies, in cooperation with the Center for U.S.-Japan Studies at Vanderbilt University and the Tokyo-based Okazaki Institute, Japan's premier independent think tank.
Shotaro Yachi, a foreign ministry adviser representing Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, will be among participants welcomed by MSU President Mark Keenum and Janos Radvanyi, the center's director and namesake.
Among featured speakers will be Gary Weir, chief historian of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; retired Adm. Thomas Fargo, former commander of the U.S. Pacific Command; and retired Vice Adm. Eduardo Ma. R. Santos, president of the Philippines-based Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific.
Other nations or states represented include China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea.
Additional information on the conference may be obtained by contacting Tan Tsai, Radvanyi Center research analyst, at 662-325-8406 or tht1@ra.msstate.edu. The full conference schedule may be viewed at www.msstate.edu/chair/radvanyi/MCB/.