Mr. Hideji Sugiyama, President, The Shoko Chukin Bank, Ltd. visited ERIA on November 11,2013. Prof. Hidetoshi Nishimura, Executive Director of ERIA and some senior officials of ERIA welcomed his visit. Prof. Nishimura briefed Mr Sugiyama on the history of ASEAN's development in the region and gave an explanation on recent outcomes of ERIA, highlighting the Chairman's Statement of 8th East Asia Summit.

Both of them shared views on ASEAN and East Asia which have a great potential for dynamic development. Mr. Sugiyama expressed his interests in ERIA's project related to SMEs and also showed his expectation that ERIA would take on an increasingly important role in the region.