Prof. Hidetoshi Nishimura, Executive Director of ERIA, called on Mr. Hiroyuki Fukano, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office on February 25, 2013 in Tokyo, Japan.

Mr. Fukano welcomed Prof. Nishimura, saying "we put special emphasis on the role of ASEAN now and the cooperation with ERIA is also important in the area of intellectual property".

The discussion touched on the current ERIA's activities for realization the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.They reaffirmed their further cooperation especially in the field of patent system and intellectual property in the future.