Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan attended the opening ceremony online and delivered remarks and a commemorative speech. At the summit-level meeting, Prime Minister Kishida delivered a keynote speech, announced the "Kumamoto Initiative for Water," which offers financial assistance worth approximately 500 billion yen over the next five years, and adopted the "Kumamoto Declaration".
From JICA, President Tanaka contributed a video message to the "High-Level Statement". Senior Vice President Onodera spoke at the thematic sessions on "Water Supply" and "Water and Sanitation/Wastewater Management," and the integrated session on "Governance". Special Advisor for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Takeya, spoke at the integrated session on "Finance". In these presentations, JICA explained its track record as the world's largest bilateral aid organization in the water sector and its cooperation policy on various water-related issues such as climate change, disaster risk reduction, water supply and sewerage, irrigation, and integrated water resources management.
In the thematic session "Water Supply," the Managing Director of the Samoa Water Autority presented the case study of how JICA's support in collaboration with water utilities in Okinawa Prefecture has achieved remarkable improvements in water service and water utility management.
The results of the conference will be disseminated to the international community including the UN Water Conference scheduled for March 2023.
scroll