Members
The Asia-Pacific Leadership Network (APLN) has over 180 members from 26 countries across Asia and the Pacific, consisting of former political, diplomatic and military leaders, senior government officials, and scholars and opinion leaders, dedicated to addressing security challenges in the Asia-Pacific, with a particular focus on nuclear non-proliferation, risk reduction, and disarmament.
KITANO Mitsuru
Executive Adviser, Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR)
Kitano Mitsuru is an Executive Adviser at the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR), and a senior diplomat with over four decades of experience in foreign affairs.
Kitano Mitsuru is a senior diplomat with over four decades of experience in foreign affairs. He currently serves as an Executive Adviser at the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR), having previously held the role of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ireland from 2019 to 2022. From 2014 to 2019, he represented Japan as its Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna. He has a robust background in disarmament and non-proliferation, serving as Director-General for Disarmament at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and in various other high-level positions within MOFA, including Deputy Director-General for Asian and Oceanian Affairs. His career also spans roles in public diplomacy and international law, with postings in the United States, Vietnam, and Geneva. His research interests include security, nuclear non-proliferation, public diplomacy, and immigration.