TANAKA Akihiko

King Abdullah II of Jordan, right, and JICA President Akihiko Tanaka

JICA President Akihiko Tanaka on Nov. 18 held talks in Tokyo with King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

For Jordan, which has accepted more than 600,000 Syrian refugees who represent more than 10 percent of the country's population, JICA not only made a Fiscal Consolidation Development Policy Loan (DPL, 1) in March in order to reduce the burden on the government of Jordan and the host community (2), it is also carrying out comprehensive assistance including grant aid in the area of the water supply in the northern part of the country, provision of medical and educational equipment and the dispatch of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers.

At the start of the talks, King Abdullah II expressed appreciation for JICA's many years of cooperation. In response, Tanaka mentioned his visit to Jordan in July and said Jordan is important for the stability of the Middle East.

King Abdullah II said the Initiative of Corridor for Peace and Prosperity (3) is quite important for Middle East peace, and Tanaka talked about his visit this month to the Jericho Agro-Industrial Park in Palestine (4), which is carrying out assistance based on the same initiative, and reported that the park's first factory is near beginning operations.

Also, King Abdullah II expressed appreciation for Japan's DPL to reduce the impact of accepting Syrian refugees and that he hopes for continued assistance. In response, Tanaka said JICA would cooperate as much as possible while consulting with the Japanese government for the sake of Jordan and the stability of the Middle East.


Notes:

1: It provided 12 billion yen through parallel financing with the World Bank.
2: Areas accepting refugees
3: A Japanese Middle East peace process proposed by then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi when he was visiting the Middle East in July 2006.
4: One initiative to bring to fruition the Initiative of the Corridor for Peace and Prosperity, it is an agro-industrial park created with Japanese assistance in a suburb of Jericho on the West Bank of the Jordan River.