TANAKA Akihiko

JICA President Akihiko Tanaka visited Washington, D.C., Oct. 10 and 11 for the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, held talks with attendees and spoke at a formal event.

On the Oct. 10, Tanaka held talks with Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director and chief operating officer of the World Bank. They confirmed they will continue the dialogue begun at the first high-level dialogue between JICA and the World Bank held in July. The two leaders also discussed the Post-2015 Development Agenda and assistance to fight Ebola.

On Oct. 11, he held talks with Anne Paugam, chief executive officer of the French Development Agency. They discussed the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the upcoming 2014 and 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP20 and 21) and strengthening cooperation on the ground.

Also on Oct. 11, Tanaka held talks with Arsenio Balisacan, socioeconomic planning secretary and director-General of the Philippines’ National Economic and Development Authority, and Amando M. Tetangco Jr., governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines. The three discussed assistance to the Bangsamoro, reconstruction assistance after Typhoon Yolanda and further strengthening cooperation to improve infrastructure, mainly in the Manila metropolitan area.

JICA President Akihiko Tanaka, right, takes part in a panel discussion.

And on the evening of Oct. 10, Tanaka took part in a panel discussion entitled "Resilience Dialogue: Financing Resilience in Post-2015 Frameworks." In addition to Tanaka, participants included Masanori Yoshida, deputy director-general of the International Bureau, Ministry of Finance, Japan; Keith Mitchell, prime minister of Grenada; Rachel Kyte, vice president and special envoy for climate change, World Bank Group; Kristalina Georgieva, European commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response; and Nancy Lindborg, assistant administrator, United States Agency for International Development. They discussed the roles of development partners and the private sector in improving resilience, assistance for the vulnerable and fragile countries, and examples of measures for financial and institutional arrangements.

Tanaka pointed out the importance of being aware of disaster risk and of the role of the public sector. Also, quoting the famous Japanese physicist and author Torahiko Terada as saying, "A major catastrophe strikes when people have forgotten the last one," he gave good examples of the effect in case of the Great East Japan Earthquake. He told the audience about how schools became evacuation shelters and highways held back the tsunami.

Before the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, Tanaka visited Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley in San Francisco Oct. 8-9. He lectured on the 60th anniversary of Japan's international cooperation and other topics, and talked to people connected to the two universities.

And in the Silicon Valley, which surrounds San Francisco Bay, he visited business incubators run by technology entrepreneurs. He also held talks with David Arnold, president of the Asia Foundation, with which JICA entered into a cooperative work agreement in April 2013. The two discussed the status of cooperation in Myanmar, Afghanistan and other countries.