Presentations, Discussion and Results of the Summit

Opening Session

3. The Chair of the Organizing Committee of the G8 University Summit, President Hiroshi Komiyama of the University of Tokyo, made opening remarks and welcomed the participants on behalf of the Organizing Committee.

4. A welcoming message from the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Yasuo Fukuda, was introduced, in which the Prime Minister expressed his high expectation that Presidents of leading universities would provide an important message to the world for achieving global sustainability from the standpoint of academic society. Remarks by Minister Kisaburo Tokai, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, were distributed to participants, in which he emphasized the importance of international cooperation within the academic community.

5. President Hiroshi Komiyama of the University of Tokyo was elected as the Chair of the Summit. President Hiroshi Saeki of Hokkaido University and President Yuichiro Anzai of Keio University were elected as Vice-Chairs of the Summit. They were to chair Parallel Sessions A and B respectively; “New scientific knowledge and international network to support global sustainability” and “Knowledge innovation towards global sustainability and education”. President and Vice-Chancellor Indira V. Samarasekera, University of Alberta, Canada, and Rector Francesco Profumo, Politecnico di Torino, Italy, were elected as Vice-Chairs of Parallel Sessions A and B respectively.