At the 9th World Peace Forum (WPF), which opened on the 10th of November in Jakarta, Indonesia, Mr. Yoshihiko Noda, President of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, participated online in the “World Leaders Panel.”

The panel included former Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla; former President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga; Thailand’s Minister of Culture Ms. Sabida Taised; and Ambassador Saleh Tekaya, Director of the Political Department of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), among others.

Leaders and intellectuals representing various countries discussed approaches to peace that transcend religion, culture, and politics under the theme, “Wasatiyyah Thought and Tionghoa Thought—Global Cooperation through Moderation and Harmony.”

Representing Japan, President Noda delivered a speech and appealed for the importance of dialogue among civilizations that values moderation and harmony, grounded in the Japanese spirit expressed by the principle “Wa wo motte tōtoshi to nasu” (“Harmony is to be valued”), at a time when division and distrust are spreading across the international community.

In particular, he proposed a path to building a new universality through complementarity rather than confrontation by linking Western universal values—democracy, freedom, and human rights—with Asian concepts of “moderation,” “empathy,” and “harmony.”

While expressing his respect for Chair Din Syamsuddin, who leads the Forum, President Noda spoke of his expectations that cooperation among civilizations will create sustain