The President's Activities

JICA President Shinichi Kitaoka, left, and Assane Mayaki, CEO of the NEPAD Agency

JICA President Shinichi Kitaoka held talks with Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, CEO of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Agency, on July 31 at JICA headquarters in Tokyo.

While discussing the African Union Development Agency, which was approved at the African Union summit in July, the two men affirmed the significance of their respective agencies' partnership and the need to strengthen it ahead of the 7th Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD 7) in August 2019.

JICA President Shinichi Kitaoka and Assane Mayaki, CEO of the NEPAD Agency, hold talks.

JICA Senior Vice President Hiroshi Kato and Mr. Mayaki of NEPAD participated in the subsequent annual partnership dialogue between JICA and NEPAD. Regarding the three fields of (i) Regional infrastructure development, (ii) agriculture and nutrition*1 and (iii) KAIZEN, that the two agencies have cooperated on since TICAD 6 in August 2016, the two men discussed the current situation and outstanding issues, then agreed upon an action plan for the coming year leading up to TICAD 7. They also affirmed their intention to consider partnerships in new fields.

At an event co-hosted by JICA and the UNDP, from left are Ryuichi Kato, director general of the Africa Department of JICA, Assane Mayaki, CEO of the NEPAD Agency, and Shigeki Komatsubara, TICAD program advisor, African Affairs Bureau, UNDP.

On Aug. 2, Mr. Mayaki gave a lecture on innovation and KAIZEN in Africa at the seminar "Doing Business in Africa: Challenges and Prospects -From Kaizen to Innovation-." The event was co-hosted by JICA and the United Nations Development Programme and held at United Nations University.

Ahead of TICAD 7, JICA and NEPAD will further strengthen their partnership to maximize development effects in Africa.

*1 Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa (IFNA)
Launched at TICAD 6 on Aug. 27, 2016, the IFNA supports the promotion of specific initiatives in the field and the achievement of nutrition improvement goals by facilitating deeper partnerships between various African countries and aid agencies. It is working in African countries to decide on nutritional improvement strategies, promote cross-sector practical nutrition improvement activities and disseminate them, by 2025.

*2 The Africa KAIZEN Initiative
This is an initiative launched with NEPAD at TICAD 6 as a platform for disseminating KAIZEN initiatives throughout Africa. KAIZEN is a Japanese method of improving product quality and productivity. The initiative's secretariat is at NEPAD.