Kozo Saiki

Director General at Japan Machinery Center for Trade and Investment Brussels Office

Speaker

Kozo SAIKI is Director General of Japan Machinery Center & Japan External Trade Organization in Brussels, as well as serves as Special Advisor to METI Minister of Japanese Government in European Affairs. SAIKI was appointed as Executive Assistant to the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the youngest in the Japanese history. Serving Japanese Prime Minister’s Office more than ten years in total from 2013-2020 and 2006-2009, he played a crucial role in advising directly to PM Abe on industrial policy, trade policy, tech policy and energy and climate policy. He was also responsible for writing PM Abe's major policy speeches including the State of Union Address in the Japanese Diet. After the Abe administration ended, SAIKI was stationed at Washington DC as Senior Research Scholar at The Edwin D. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies from 2020 to 2021. From 2021 to 2022, SAIKI was Director of the Bio-Industry Division and engaged in implementing Japan’s industrial policies to promote the Japanese bio-industry and strengthening the vaccine manufacturing base against the coronavirus. SAIKI holds a Master of Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University and a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Tokyo