Speech Transcripts

1. Opening Remarks

Good morning everyone.

I am very happy to be here at this important event, and I wish to express my deepest gratitude to our co-host, the Laos-Japan Institute (LJI) at the National University of Laos.

As some of you may know, JICA worked alongside the government of Lao P.D.R. to establish LJI in the year 2000; this was then followed by the founding of the Japanese Studies Center as part of LJI in 2018.

I would also like to congratulate H.E. Mr. Alounkeo Kittikhoun and his son, Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun, for publishing, "Small Countries, Big Diplomacy - Laos in the UN, ASEAN, and MRC." It was my pleasure to contribute a featured endorsement for their book.

I also would like to thank
H.E. Dr. Khampheng Saysompheng, Minister of Industry and Commerce,
H.E. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phout Simmalavong, Minister of Education and Sports
H.E. Mr. KOBAYASHI Kenichi, Ambassador of Japan to Lao PDR
and distinguished guests for your attendance.

I wish to begin by recognizing my respected and admired friend, H.E. Mr. Alounkeo.

Mr. Alounkeo and I became close to each other when I served as Japan's ambassador to the United Nations from 2004 to 2006. I was just a rookie diplomat then with 30 years of academic experience as a professor of modern Japanese politics and diplomacy at the University of Tokyo. Mr. Alounkeo, meanwhile, began his distinguished diplomatic career in 1993. Through the years we worked together, he shared with me many valuable lessons and useful skills as a diplomat. In addition, I saw how in a high-stakes diplomatic setting like the United Nations, Mr. Alounkeo gained trust from other diplomats with his proactive efforts to propose ideas and genuinely connect with others.

As H.E. Mr. Alounkeo and Dr. Anoulak make clear in their book, the reality of diplomacy consists not only of so-called "big diplomacy" led by the great powers, but also of the many small diplomacies where smaller countries are involved, and eventually influence a lot the course of international politics. Along the way, their scholarship demonstrates Mr. Alounkeo's immense contribution to the national interest and socio-economic development of Laos through diplomacy. By weaving together rich insights, I am sure their book and its recommendations will be a valuable resource to everyone here today.

2. JICA's longstanding cooperation with Laos

Let me turn to Japan's longstanding relationship with Laos, dating back 600 years. One theory holds that long ago, "Lao-Lao," the traditional rice whiskey of Laos, was taken to Japan and inspired the creation of "Awamori," a famous sake from the Okinawa region.

Centuries later, JICA is working with an organization from Okinawa on a technical cooperation project in Say village of Attapeu Province. This project aims to improve the quality and increase sales of "Lao-Lao," as well as enhance local people's livelihoods. Their collaboration has achieved high-profile success.

Indeed, at a banquet held during the Japan-Mekong Summit in 2018, H.E. Dr. Thongloun Sisoulith, former prime minister and current president of Laos, presented a sample of this refashioned "Lao-Lao" to then-Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo ABE as a symbol of their countries' bilateral cooperation. It is now sold throughout Japan as "Chu-ra Lao," or "Beautiful Laos."

JICA's technical cooperation in Laos of course does not end there.

JICA dispatched the first group of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) to Laos in 1965. Since then, 1,000 Japanese volunteers have served there. They are granted an opportunity of paying a courtesy call on the Lao Prime Minister every year. To give just one example of their contributions, JICA volunteers' passionate coaching of Lao athletes resulted in four of them competing in Judo, track and field, and swimming at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I believe these kinds of people-to-people exchanges and relationships grounded in mutual support are a potent symbol of the cordial relations between the two countries.

Construction of "Nam Ngum Dam," the first hydropower station in Laos, was another major milestone in our two countries' engagement.

It was initially proposed in the 1950s by a Japanese engineer to His Highness, Mr. Sufonuvong, who later became president of Laos. And it was finally completed in 1971 with financial support from Japan, other countries, and the World Bank. The Hydropower Station has served as the foundation of the Laotian power sector, now a major industry for the country, and for decades has supplied steady electricity to the capital Vientiane.

Japan has also provided grant aid and technical cooperation for the elimination of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Laos. Unfortunately, Laos bears one of the heaviest burdens of contamination from war-related UXO and has the highest death toll from UXO in the world.

Clearly, as these examples show, Japan has provided extensive amounts of cooperation across various sectors vital to nation-building and human development in Laos. It even ranked as a top source country of ODA cooperation for Laos during the 1990s.

Additionally, to my great delight, a number of Japanese diplomats with whom I am very familiar have recently served in Laos. Former Ambassador Mr. Hikihara and I graduated from the same high school and the same university. Former Ambassador Mr. Takewaka used to be a Director General of JICA, and the present ambassador, Mr. Kobayashi, and I have had a close relationship for a long time.

Since March of last year, a new administration in Lao P.D.R. has embarked on the difficult task of combating COVID-19. JICA's "Initiative for Global Health and Medicine" aims to cooperate with the governments of Laos and other developing countries on this challenge by strengthening their medical health care systems.

In Laos, JICA has provided facilities and equipment for cold chain logistics along with devices for testing COVID-19 to key medical hospitals, such as Setthathirath Hospital and Champasak Provincial Hospital. JICA has also been involved with various capacity development efforts, including the establishment of a national licensing system for nurses, and quality enhancements to medical health services.

At this point, I would like to recognize the Institute Pasteur, the only laboratory in Laos equipped to examine mutated variants of COVID-19. JICA's work with the institute goes back nearly a decade, and I admire the Laotian members of our joint research project who have been playing an important role in combating COVID-19.

3. JICA's Future Cooperation in Laos

Laos is located in the center of Indochina Peninsula and forms the heart of the Mekong region. Despite being the only land locked country in ASEAN, I am sure that Laos can accelerate economic development by linking with neighboring countries and others in the Indo-Pacific.

For Laos to shift from being a "land locked country" to a "land linked country," JICA has contributed to the development of the Mekong East-West Economic Corridor via construction of the Second Mekong Friendship Bridge, and to the Vientiane International Airport--all in close cooperation with the government of Lao P.D.R.

Increasing economic ties with neighboring countries like Vietnam, where the Japanese private sector is active, offers an excellent opportunity for Laos to further enhance its economic development.

JICA would like to make every effort to enhance the ties between Laos, the Mekong, and Indo-Pacific region based on our long-term cooperation advancing the socio-economic development of ASEAN countries.

It is worth underscoring that agricultural development is also important for the people of Laos, since the sector employs 70% of the Laotian labor force. Here, too, JICA is present. A farmers' cooperative association from Japan's Kagawa prefecture has invited a total of 255 technical intern trainees from Xiangkhouang Province in Laos to learn useful knowledge and skills. Actually, with a shortage of human resources becoming a serious issue in Japan's agricultural sector, these trainees are big help in sustaining the industry. For its part, JICA has worked alongside this farmers' cooperative association by providing additional technical advice to alumni of its training curriculum. Count on JICA to continuously promote mutually-beneficial cooperation like this.

4. Background of "JICA Chair"

Now, I'll quickly explain the rationale and background of the JICA chair program.

Japan is the first non-Western country to have become a developed country. One of the unique features about our development was that we modernized and rebuilt ourselves after World War II into a liberal, peaceful and democratic nation without losing our own traditions and culture. Therefore, given this feat, I believe Japan can serve as a very good development model for other countries.

Additionally, Japan has engaged in extensive development cooperation with Asian countries through our official development assistance (ODA). Most of these countries have gone on to achieve remarkable socioeconomic progress.

By sharing the lessons we have learned through our development cooperation and modernization experiences, we believe Japan can lead the world in "development studies" and contribute to the world's sustainable development.

With this in my mind, in 2018, JICA launched the JICA Development Studies Program in partnership with various Japanese universities. This program provides young leaders from partner counties an opportunity to learn about Japan's development experience and pursue graduate studies in their respective fields. The DVDs titled "Seven Chapters on Japanese Modernization," with which you may already be familiar, was created in 2019 as part of this program.

In order to provide further opportunities for our partners to learn about Japan's development experiences, we also created the JICA Program for Japanese Studies, or "JICA Chair," with leading universities in countries where we work.

During the second part of this event, Dr. SONOBE Tetsushi, one of my good friends and chief executive officer of the Asian Development Bank Institute, will deliver a lecture focused on Japan's economic development after World WarII. Dr. Sonobe has extensive experience and knowledge about human resources development in the administrative ranks of Laos and other ASEAN countries.

I am very pleased that many Laotian leaders have studied in Japan, including the Minster of Education and Sports, the Minister of Health, the ambassador of Laos to Japan, and researchers at LJI.

Moreover, JICA has provided trainings to leaders of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party since 2017. They focused on sharing the experiences of Japan's administrative reforms and leadership styles.

Twenty years have passed since JICA began providing legal and judicial cooperation to Laos. As a result of this work, the Laos Civil Code was established and entered into force in May 2020. It took 25 years, until 1890, for Japan to formulate its own Civil Code, after studying that of the French, which was internationally recognized as a good model of jurisprudence at that time. Even while referring to the French Civil Code, however, Japan's leaders kept in mind the traditions and values that anchored Japanese society. JICA has drawn upon this historical experience when working on legal system development in Laos and other countries, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Nepal. We surely hope that Japan's experience and our cooperation will enhance nation building in partner countries and cultivate human resources development of future generations.

5. Message

JICA's vision is "Leading the world with trust," which is the basis for Japan's development cooperation. We are not providing "aid" or "assistance," but cooperating and working together with partners through mutual trust.

As an illustration of this, Japan and Lao P.D.R. have been working together for the socio-economic development of Laos. We would like to continue cooperating with our trustworthy partners and contribute to bringing about a better future for the world.

Through this course, we hope that you will learn about Japan's path to modernization and unique approach to development cooperation, both of which are quite distinct from those of Western countries. By deepening your understanding of Japan, this program is intended to also help strengthen the bonds of trust between the two countries

In addition, we hope that the participants of this course will contribute to global development and serve as a bridge between Japan and Laos, and in that way deepen our two countries' robust partnership.

Thank you very much.