Seminars

Europe’s role in Indo-Pacific: Lithuania’s contribution

Co-hosts: Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to Japan

The Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF), in cooperation with the Embassy of Lithuania to Japan, is pleased to host a public forum welcoming Her Excellency Dovilė Šakalienė, Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania.

As a member of the EU and NATO, Lithuania has been playing an active international role, including in Indo-Pacific region. In 2023, Lithuania formulated its first-ever "Indo-Pacific Strategy." Building on the recent security and defense engagement with like-minded partners in Indo-Pacific, Lithuania is ready to announce its “Strategy for Defense and Security Engagement in Indo-Pacific Region.”

At this forum, Minister of National Defense Dovilė Šakalienė will present a newly developed “Defense Strategy” and will discuss Europe’s role and Lithuania’s contribution to the Indo-Pacific region. Minister Šakalienė will be joined by Nobukatsu Kanehara, SPF Executive Director, and Tsuneo “Nabe” Watanabe, SPF Senior Fellow, who will moderate the discussion. We look forward to welcoming many participants to this insightful event.

Registration

If you would like to participate, please apply from this page by 15:00 on Tuesday, May 27 (JST).

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*We will use your registration information for future invitations to seminars and lectures sponsored or supported by SPF.

＊Please note that registration will close once capacity is reached.

＊There is no parking available at the venue.

Contact: Japan-U.S. and Security Studies Unit
E-mail: unit-event-2@spf.or.jp
Tel: +81-3-5157-5140

For media inquiries:
E-mail: spfpr@spf.or.jp
Tel: +81-3-5157-5395

Description

16:00 JST	Opening
16:05 JST	Keynote speech H.E. Ms. Dovilė Šakalienė, Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania
16:35 JST	Panel discussion & QA H.E. Ms. Dovilė Šakalienė Nobukatsu Kanehara Tsuneo “Nabe” Watanabe
17:00 JST	Closing

*The event program and speakers are subject to change.

Speaker

Profile

Dovile Šakaliene was appointed Minister of National Defense in December 2024. She is also a Member of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and Vice-president of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, a position she has held since 2021. Ms. Šakaliene began her political career in 2016, when she was elected as a member of the 12th Seimas. Since her 1st term in the Seimas, she has been involved in security and foreign policy issues, serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee on European Affairs in 2016-2017, and on the Committee on National Security and Defense for two terms. During her time in the Seimas, she has represented Lithuania at various international security and democracy forums, and has been regularly invited to the Munich Security Conference, the Warsaw Security Forum and the Copenhagen Democracy Summit as a speaker. Ms. Šakaliene is a co-founder and co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). She is sanctioned by the People’s Republic of China.

Profile

Nobukatsu Kanehara is the Executive Director of SPF. He previously served as Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2012–2019) and was the first Deputy Secretary-General of the NSS. His career at the MOFA included key roles such as Director-General of the Bureau of International Law, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Policy Bureau, and Ambassador for the United Nations and Human Rights. He also held diplomatic posts in Seoul and Washington. From 2020 to 2025, he was a professor at Doshisha University. He was awarded the Legion of Honour by the French president.

Profile

Tsuneo “Nabe” Watanabe is a senior fellow of SPF. In October 2016, he joined the SPF after serving a senior fellow and a director of foreign & security policy research at the Tokyo Foundation in 2009 to 2016. He served a senior fellow at the Mitsui Global Strategic Studies Institute in Tokyo in 2005 to 2009. In 1995, he joined CSIS in Washington, D.C. He served a visiting research scholar, research associate, fellow and senior fellow until 2005. He is currently adjunct fellow of the CSIS.