TANAKA Akihiko

Tanaka gives a keynote address at the Asia Society

JICA President Akihiko Tanaka visited the United States from April 27 to May 1. During his stay, he attended meetings of the 2015 Human Development Report Advisory Panel organized by the United Nations Advisory Board on Human Security (ABHS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) respectively. He also gave a keynote address at the Asia Society.

On April 28 and 29, at an ABHS meeting held at U.N. Headquarters, there was a report on the activities of the U.N. Human Security Unit and a debate on its future action program. Tanaka spoke about the achievements of the public forum "Disaster Risk Reduction and Human Security" at the Third U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in this March and joined in the discussion of its concrete action program.

At the Asia Society, on April 29, Tanaka gave a keynote address with the theme "Japan and the World: A New Global Strategy." At the beginning of the remarks, Tanaka said that 2015 was a very significant year for the world and Japan as this year marks 70 years since the end of World War II. He talked about the history of the United States' contributions to Japan's development after the war and Japan's subsequent contributions to Asia and the international community. Next, regarding the direction of Japan's global strategy based on the 70 years since the war, he highlighted the importance of 1) making a nonmilitary contribution to the international community, 2) the Japan-U.S. alliance, 3) supporting the strengthening of the market economy, and 4) contributing to expanding economic dynamism from the Pacific Ocean to the Indo-Pacific. Finally, Tanaka wrapped up by saying that as the executing agency of Japan's official development assistance, JICA will implement cooperation with the goal of achieving “quality growth” based on “human security,” which is the guiding principle of Japan’s development cooperation.

Representatives from various countries’ governments and U.N. agencies, as well as members of the media, totaling some 90, attended the event at the Asia Society. A lively discussion followed, covering Japan's emergency assistance, restoration and reconstruction activities in response to disasters, the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank and a wide variety of other topics.

At the meeting of the 2015 Human Development Report Advisory Panel held at the UNDP on April 30, Tanaka and other panel members discussed how to organize concepts for the report, which is themed "Rethinking Work for Human Development," and the direction it should take.

*The Asia Society is a nonprofit organization established by John D. Rockefeller III in 1956 with the goal of mutual understanding between the people of Asia and the United States.