On 3rd December, 2021, the JICA Chair was launched at ENA (Ecole Nationale d’Administration de Tunis) in Tunisia. After the opening ceremony including the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperationbetween JICA and ENA, Prof. Tadokoro Masayuki, Keio University gave lecture on Japanese foreign policy and there was lively discussion. ENA is one of the top educational institutions in Tunisia where future leaders are learning. Following these lectures, it is expected that JICA will further strengthen the relationship between ENA and JICA.
In April 2021, JICA Chair Opening Event was held at Egypt Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST). More than 300 people including Minister of Higher Education of Egypt, Minister of International Cooperation, Executive Director of National Training Academy and Japanese Ambassador to Egypt participated in the Event.
A video message by KITAOKA Shinichi, President of JICA, was showed and special lecture was given by the Dr. ITAMI Hiroyuki, President of International University of Japan. In the future, E-JUST plans to use the video teaching materials "Understanding Japanese Modernization Series" through mainly Liberal Arts Cultural Center, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of International Business and Humanities . They also plan to use them in public lectures and pre-training programs for visitors from African countries to Japan to expand opportunities to learn from Japan's modernization experience.
On November and December, 2020, with the gracious support of Her Royal Highness Princess Raiyah of Jordan, short intensive lectures on Japanese studies were presented at the University of Jordan.
These seminar lectures came about when Dr. Shinichi Kitaoka, President of JICA, met with His Majesty King Abdullah II and introduced the video teaching material “Seven Chapters on Japanese Modernization” in November 2018.
The short intensive lectures took the format of an online seminar, using the video series “Seven Chapters on Japanese Modernization” as basic teaching materials. Participants including Her Royal Highness Princess Raiyah of Jordan and Her Excellency Ms. Lina Annab, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Jordan to Japan had lively discussion.
In the 1st seminar, Her Royal Highness Princess Raiyah introduced her Japan-related experiences, including her collaborative work with JICA headquarters. Her message was that during modernization, Japan retained its own unique culture and value system while incorporating ideas and technologies from outside the country. Princess Raiyah indicated that Jordan could effectively use these facts as a reference in her country’s further development.