UAE Ambassador Visits Global Aqua Innovation Center at Shinshu University in Search of Collaboration Opportunities
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On March 7, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Khaled Alameri and his party visited International Center for Science and Innovation (AICS) at Shinshu University, the headquarters of Global Aqua Innovation Center Project (COI), to meet and discuss with COI project team members. The visitors showed great interest in the Center's efforts toward reducing seawater desalination costs, explaining that "Water security is a high-priority issue in the UAE, and we look forward to the results of this project with great anticipation."
In addition to Ambassador Alameri, the visiting party included Omran Rashed Taryam, secretary of the UAE embassy in Tokyo (head of economic section), and Sumiyo Shinagawa, who is in charge of cultural and academic affairs. These three were met and greeted by AICS leaders, including Distinguished Professor Morinobu Endo, Executive Vice President Soichiro Nakamura (who is in charge of research and industry-academia-government collaboration), Vice President Kiyoshi Tanaka (who is in charge of international affairs), Vice President Shiro Handa (who serves as dean of the Engineering Faculty and director of AICS), and Institute of Carbon Science and Technology Director Yoshio Hashimoto.
Morning session was held in the Oval Studio on the second floor of AICS. Following a short greeting by Executive Vice President Nakamura, Ambassador Alameri told all in attendance, "Global Aqua Innovation Center is an outstanding project that greatly benefits society, and I am thankful for this opportunity to come and see it for myself. I hope to take advantage of my visit to forge ties with all of you and pursue further collaboration between us." Endo and three researchers explained their research efforts to the visitors, who were then taken on a tour of the laboratory. A lunch meeting was also held.
The UAE is a federation of seven emirates, most widely known for the major oil producer Abu Dhabi and the rapid economic growth achieved in Dubai. Because of the UAE's location in a low-rainfall, desert climate, it is a great challenge to secure sufficient drinking water for the populace, and the country operates multiple seawater desalination plants in response. The UAE expects great things from the innovative desalination and water reclamation systems being developed by our project. When these are developed into practical use, UAE will prove to be an ideal venue for putting the technologies to use.
