TOKUSHIMA, JAPAN -- Tokushima Prefecture will hold the “International Consumer’s Symposium in Tokushima” on Friday, June 6. Gathering consumer leaders from Japan and overseas, and the youth who will lead the next generation, this symposium will feature lively discussions on initiatives that can be passed on to the future, including “promotion of ethical consumption,” such as reducing food waste and promoting local production and consumption.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the birth of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. How have our individual awareness and actions changed toward realizing a sustainable society? And now that we have five years remaining until the deadline for achieving the SDGs, what are our next steps?

On the day of the symposium, a variety of sessions will be held as follows:

· For the keynote speech, Maruha Nichiro Corporation, the first private company in the world to succeed in the complete cultivation of bluefin tuna, will present on its efforts to achieve the SDGs.
· Next, the Global Youth Session, in which university students from Tokushima Prefecture, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, will discuss under the theme of “Ethical Consumption in Food.”
· Lastly, the Consumer Policy Session, in which consumer policy experts from Japan, Thailand, South Korea and Hong Kong, which have direct flights to Tokushima, will discuss under the theme,“Consumer Administration's Approach to a Sustainable Society.”