The Rector of USU warmly welcomed the arrival of the Japanese Consul.By serving coffee, Muryanto Amin said that Japan is one of USU's partners who have been working together for a long time.In addition, many lecturers arealso Japanese graduates.

"We are thinking about how we can continue to improve our cooperation with Japan.Many of our lecturers are also Japanese graduates.So Japan is not a new person for us, but a USU partner who has been workingtogether for along time,” the USU Rector said.

During his visit, Takonai brought a message of increasing cooperation between the Government of Indonesia and the Government of Japan through various sectors, and one of them was in the education sector.He said the tasks he was carrying out are focused on cooperation with agencies in the city of Medan.

“I have only been stationed for about three months in Medan.The mandate given to me is to increase cooperation between Indonesia and Japan in various sectors, one of which is in education.That's why Icame here," said Takoai.

In line with this, Muryanto Amin said that his party is currently seeking assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which aims to encourage the implementation of various development projects at USU.As is known, JICA hascollaborated with USU in many ways.

“Currently we are proposing development assistance at USU to JICA through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology.We know that JICA has helped us a lot, such as research funding and so on,” said Muryanto.

Muryanto Amin also mentioned that Japan is a role model country for waste management.According to him, many collaborations on waste management procedures have been initiated by USU and the Japanese Government.

“Previously, we have also cooperated with Japan regarding waste management.Of course, we can't immediately be like Japan, but the results of the study have become our recommendations for better waste management inMedanCity," he said.

The USU Rector also hopes that this collaboration can cover a wider area such as lecturer visits and student exchanges.With this activity, there will be cultural exchange between the two institutions.

“Furthermore, we hope that there will be visiting lectures, joint research, student exchanges, and other collaborations.USU has strengths in cultural diversity, which I hope can be packaged well as material for cooperation in exchanging cultural knowledgewith Japan," he said.

Responding to this, Takonai promised to conduct intensive communication with the Japanese authorities so that these activities can be realized immediately.Before leaving USU, Takonai alsogave a gift in the form of a unique coffee cup which was rewarded with a gift from the USU Rector.(RR/©ULC)

Author: Roni Hikmah Ramadhan - PR

Interviewee: - - -

Photographer: Amri Simatupang - PR