The Republic of Benin is a Western African country with an area of 114,764 Km2 and a population of approximatively 11 million. His official language is French. According to UNDP's 2019 Human Development Index', BENIN ranks 163 out of 189 countries and is a developing country with a Gross National Income per capita of 1,250 US dollars (World Bank 2019).
The main sectors are agriculture and port services. Agriculture mainly consists of growing cotton and cashew nuts, but in both cases they do not have added value because the national rate of processing is low. In the port services sector, trade through the Cotonou port is more common than domestic trade and the main destinations for re-exportation are Niger and Nigeria which play an important role as a distribution channel in the regional market.
In West Africa, where there are many unstable countries, Benin is a model of democracy since 1991 which face government change through democratic presidential elections and citizen are honest, kind and friendly which support Japan ODA policy.
Patrice Guillaume Athanase Talon who won the presidential elections in March 2016, introduced the Government Action Program (2016-2021) in October 2016 as government policy for the next five years through three goals: 1) Consolidate democracy, the rule of law and good governance, 2) Engage the structural transformation of the economy and 3) Improve the living conditions of the people. The government has taken measures to fight corruption, promote administrative and financial reforms to enhance business environment. Benin has a strong potential for development. Mr. Patrice Guillaume Athanase TALON was re-elected for the presidential elections held in April 2021. For his second term, he plans to focus on the continuation of major works as well as roads, in particular road infrastructure, urbanization of cities, health for all, access to energy and drinking water in all regions of the country. Its campaign slogan was, "Development is there!"
Since 1980, JICA has contributed to this development through support in Health, Education, Safe water, Agriculture and Fisheries with a record of 1,060 classrooms and more than 1,500 deep wells made to facilitate access to safe water. Since the presidency of Patrice TALON, JICA is working on new sectors such as economic infrastructure in accordance with the Government Action Program. At Japan-Benin Summit Meeting during TICAD7 in Yokohama, Japan, August 2019, President Taron expressed expectations for investment promotion for Japanese companies and for cooperation in the field of education including vocational and technical training. In response to this, JICA received a mission of Japanese companies to inspect the investment environment in Togo and Benin in November 2019, and continues to provide support for Japanese companies to advance to Benin. JICA is also about to launch cooperation in the field of human resource development for industries in 2019. Also, about 330 Japanese volunteers have been serving since 2005 and live and work daily with Beninese, despite cultural differences.
In March 2020, the spread of COVID-19 has begun in Benin, and all the experts and JOCVs have returned to Japan temporarily. Even in the expansion of COVID-19, by continuing cooperation activities with remote meetings and discussions utilizing ICT, JICA in Benin will contribute to achieve Benin goals. I will be grateful to have your support and cooperation.
AOKI Toshimichi
Resident Representative of JICA Benin
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