TANAKA Akihiko

Japan International Cooperation Agency Senior Vice-President Hideaki Domichi held talks with Amina J. Mohammed, special advisor to the United Nations Secretary General on post-2015 development planning, at JICA Headquarters in Tokyo on June 24.

Amina J. Mohammed, special advisor to the United Nations Secretary General on post-2015 development planning, left, and JICA Senior Vice-President Hideaki Domichi

In the United Nations, there is a discussion going on regarding the post-2015 development agenda, new development goals for after the 2015 target year for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

At the beginning of the talks, Domichi said Mohammed is a key person in the formulation of the post-2015 development agenda and that she will be involved with the U.N. secretary-general’s synthesis report relating to the agenda, which will be completed by December. The opportunity to exchange opinions with her is extremely valuable for JICA, he said.

Mohammed expressed her gratitude and pointed out that Japan can take a leadership role in making a practical contribution to not only formulating policies associated with goals of post-2015 development agenda, but also implementing activities to achieve the goals. She said Japan's proactive participation in the debate is welcome. She said she would like to continue discussion with the Japanese government and JICA for drafting the synthesis report.

Domichi talked about the importance of the African Union's position paper, CAP (1) and said its thinking is the same as that of Japan with regard to the emphasis placed on economic growth and infrastructure improvement. He explained that JICA places importance on high-quality growth and human security, as well as disaster risk reduction, universal health coverage (UHC, 2) and gender equality. In response to this, Mohammed agreed on the commonalities with CAP and said both human security and UHC are important, though there is still a controversy over these issues.

Finally, when Domichi talked about partnerships with the private sector, Mohammed expressed her agreement, saying private partnerships are definitely important. She also said important issues relating to them include establishing accountability, how to check their environmental burden while advancing people-centered development and how to involve the private sector in development. In those respects, it is necessary to further deepen the relationship of trust with the private sector, she said.


Notes:

1. The Common African Position on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the post-2015 development agenda of African countries
2. Universal Health Coverage (UHC). UHC refers to "the ability of all people to receive appropriate services related to health promotion, prevention, medical treatment and functional recovery at a cost they can pay." Achieving UHC was adopted as a new common goal for the international community at the United Nations General Assembly in December 2012.