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Letters and Messages |
Remarks by Consul-General Nozomu Takaoka
at the signing ceremony
of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between
the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and the State of Texas
on the energy conservation demonstration project
at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin
on August 11, 2015
August 11, 2015
Thank you for your kind introduction. I would like to wholeheartedly congratulate everyone here today on the signing of the MOU and ID, which together formally initiate the start of the HVDC power supply system technology project. Please allow me to thank Secretary of State Carlos Cascos for his honorable presence here, as well as the honorable presence of Deputy Secretary of State Coby Shorter.
I’d like to express my appreciation for UT-Austin President George Fenves in providing the venue for this project and his presiding over this important event. I would also like to offer my gratitude for the appearance of Mr. Fumio Ueda, executive director of NEDO, and Mr. Atsushi Ichihoshi, senior executive vice president of NTTF for coming all the way from Japan for this important ceremony.
NEDO was formed after the oil crisis in the seventies and has become a leading institution in Japan in promoting alternative sources of energy as well as their conservation. Their role is important to both Japan and Texas, who are uniquely positioned to benefit from NEDO’s expertise. Japan is a country with limited natural resources, while Texas is overflowing with energy potential. It is only natural that the two would come together and NEDO would facilitate a new path for that venture.
It is fitting that this technology will be mastered at UT-Austin, the foremost University in Texas. For the Japanese members of the audience, I would like to stress the well-known fact that this university has been at the forefront of innovation and has produced critically important graduates in the political field, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Presidential candidate Jeb Bush, and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer, and our great Secretary of State Carlos Cascos. I am pleased that this longstanding tradition of excellence will provide the crucial foundation for our collaboration on energy.
As everything is bigger in Texas, even the future is bigger for Japan-Texas relations. My observation is that the three greatest advantages for this bigger future are Texas’s geographic centrality in the United States, its huge potential in the field of energy, and the strong technology exchange between both countries. Therefore, I am convinced the HVDC power supply system technology project, in benefitting from these advantages, will certainly produce great success.
Again, please accept my deep congratulations on such an accomplishment and all my best wishes for the future of your exciting venture.