TANAKA Akihiko

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development President Suma Chakrabarti, left, and JICA Senior Vice-President Hideaki Domichi exchanged views on current development issues.

JICA Senior Vice-President Hideaki Domichi held talks Aug. 28 with Suma Chakrabarti, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), at JICA headquarters in Tokyo.

In May 2010, the EBRD and JICA concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen their partnership in Europe, the Caucasus and Central and East Asia.

At the start of the discussion, Chakrabarti said, "To strengthen further the EBRD and JICA partnership is one of our priorities. We should have more business with Japanese partners, so we set up a new office in Tokyo this year. I want to make MOU (concluded with JICA) more concrete."

During the meeting, the two exchanged views and opinions on their operations in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, as well as on some specific partner countries such as Egypt and Syria.

They confirmed that the two institutions will continue their dialogues at the field level, and will consider expanding opportunities for mutual learning, through, among other things, a joint seminar on small and medium-sized businesses development.