Press releases

MINSK, 23 March (BelTA) – Winners of the Japanese language proficiency contest for students of the Belarusian State University have left Belarus to study in a leading Japanese university, BelTA learned from representatives of JTI Company.

Two students of the International Relations Faculty of the Belarusian State University will spend six months focusing on Japanese studies at the Human Development and Culture Faculty of University of Fukushima. The contest for the Belarusian students of Japanese was organized by the Embassy of Japan and JTI Company in Belarus.

Education has been arranged as part of the joint program implemented by JT Group (Japan), the Japan Foundation, JTI Company in Belarus, and the Belarusian State University with assistance of the Embassy of Japan in Belarus.

Gennady Brusnikov, Deputy General Manager of JTI Company in Belarus, noted that as a company with Japanese roots JTI puts emphasis on popularizing the Japanese culture and advancing Belarus-Japan relations as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility. “We are implementing a number of projects in this field,” noted the executive. “In 2014 our company helped a group of Belarusian students to go to Japan on a fact-finding visit as part of an international project dedicated to [the linguist and the first diplomatic representative of the Russian Empire in Japan] Iosif Goshkevich. It is the first time we are implementing the education program. We hope it will help facilitate Belarusian-Japanese cultural exchange.”

JTI Company started working in Belarus in 1998. The company has implemented a number of social and cultural projects in the country, which lie outside its core business. The projects are meant to support and popularize culture and art, preserve the historical and cultural legacy, advance Belarusian-Japanese relations, and enable social inclusion.