With a tree planting ceremony attended by diplomats, business leaders, public figures, and university officials, the American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB) celebrated a generous donation by The Sardar Group of ten Sakura trees to adorn AUIB’s distinguished campus, with a promise to donate ten additional Sakura trees annually for the next five years. The Sakura tree is one of the most cherished symbols of Japan, where it is celebrated as a symbol of renewal and a reminder to cherish every moment in life, much like the brief bloom of the cherry blossoms themselves.
The Sakura trees will be “a constant and beautiful reminder of the friendship” that brings together The Sardar Group and AUIB, but also Iraq and Japan, said AUIB President, Dr. Michael Mulnix, at the ceremony, as he welcomed to campus the Chairman and CEO of The Sardar Group, Mr. Sardar Al Bebany, Charge d’Affaires at the Embassy of Japan in Iraq, Mr. Kenji Yokota, Monsignore Pios Qasha of St. Joseph Church in Baghdad, and other distinguished guests.
President Mulnix thanked The Sardar Group for its generous and very special donation, describing the group as “instrumental for promoting trade between Iraq and Japan,” and highlighting in this context AUIB’s efforts at developing partnerships with leading Japanese institutions of higher education, and its plans to send select groups of its students to Japan on Study Abroad trips.