Could you tell us in detail what type of activities the foundation is involved in?

Through JICA's ODA, Japan provides training for legal technical assistance. We participate in this project by acting as a trustee. Another type of activity in which we are involved is to provide information for the people in Asia as well as to our members in order to develop a better understanding of the contemporary legal environment. These two activities constitute our main focus at present.

As a part of JICA's ODA, Japan convenes an international civil and commercial law training session ( called "multiple training") by inviting participants from six countries each February or March. There are one or two participants from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, China and Mongolia all of whom deal with the legislative processes in their own country. The six participants from Japan are judges, Ministry of Justice officials and private sector legal professionals. It often is convened at JICA's Osaka International Center and the participants are expected to stay for four to five weeks.

Lecturers for these training courses are selected according to the particular theme. They might be one of our scientific trustees or board members. The purpose of the Foundation is two- fold: to facilitate training such as obtaining lecturers on certain topics and to provide worthwhile training for the participants who have come from abroad so they could obtain knowledge they can then use in actual practice.

Besides multiple training, bilateral training is conducted in such cases as the Vietnam Legal Technical Assistance Training Project. The Foundation has cooperated since the third training period which was in 1994. This training takes place twice a year. The participants are mainly professionals dealing with the legislative process. During each training period, about ten individuals are invited to stay for four to five weeks. If the participants from bilateral and multiple training courses request that they would like to see first hand Japanese corporations or plants, we also facilitate these excursions on their behalf.