October 6, 2024 is an important milestone for Japan, marking 70 years since the country began its Official Development Assistance (ODA) program in 1954.
Mr. Tanaka Akihiko - President of JICA - said that over the past 7 decades, as a major global partner, Japan has expanded cooperation programs to 190 countries and regions, contributing to economic and social development as well as peace and prosperity of the global community.
JICA is the agency responsible for managing the Japanese government's ODA, providing a wide range of cooperation programs, including financial and investment cooperation, technical cooperation, as well as other services such as emergency aid and volunteer dispatch.
In coordination with domestic initiatives of recipient countries, JICA's cooperation programs such as infrastructure and human resource development have laid a solid foundation for the development of these countries.
For example, in Thailand, yen loans and technical cooperation provided by Japan in the 1980s helped support the development of the East Coast region, attracting investment in the Thai automobile industry, thereby promoting production and trade throughout the region.
In Vietnam, JICA has supported the development of Noi Bai International Airport, the country's gateway, along with Nhat Tan Bridge and the road connecting the two, helping Vietnam improve its competitiveness.
Mr. Tanaka Akihiko affirmed that JICA's basic principle is to respect the autonomy and self-reliance of partner countries, while emphasizing steadfast commitments with a long-term vision.
In response to the changing global context, in June 2023, the Government of Japan revised the Development Cooperation Charter as a basis for conducting development cooperation activities in a more effective and strategic manner.
According to the revised charter, human security is considered the guiding principle and foundation of all of Japan's development cooperation activities. Human security is a state in which human beings, as individuals, are free from fear and want and live lives filled with dignity.
In addition to the above principle, as Japan's development cooperation agency, JICA is also committed to ensuring human security through poverty reduction efforts based on quality growth.
One of the important keys to accelerating efforts to solve development problems is to use ODA as a catalyst for cooperation, thereby promoting and taking advantage of the intelligence and technology of these diverse fields.
Mr. Tanaka Akihiko said that JICA's vision is "Connecting the world with trust". JICA President affirmed his commitment to continue to cooperate with developing countries as well as development partners who share the same vision, to maintain the values that each side considers essential, and to jointly build a new direction to respond to new challenges based on the trust that Japan has continuously built over the years.
