Speech at the Roundtable Meeting among Aid Agencies of ASEAN and Japan（2024.9.30）

Distinguished participants from fellow organizations, thank you for attending today’s “Round Table Meeting among Development Cooperation Departments and Agencies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand from ASEAN and Japan (triple A J)”.

Today’s roundtable meeting offers a historical opportunity for international aid organizations from Japan and ASEAN countries to convene for the first time. By sharing our experiences, I hope we can strengthen our partnership to tackle global development challenges.

This year marks the 70^th anniversary of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries. Throughout these years, JICA has been at the forefront of Japan’s ODA implementation.

In response to the changing global landscape, the Government of Japan revised its Development Cooperation Charter in June 2023 to update its development cooperation to be implemented in a more effective and strategic manner. The Charter stressed necessity to jointly create new solutions through dialogue and collaboration, with the partner countries at the core. Building equal relationships through continuous dialogues with partner countries to create solutions is a strong tradition of Japan’s cooperation. JICA is ready to advance co-creation by leveraging the tradition.

Japan’s international cooperation efforts began in parallel with postwar reparations to Asian states. Through these efforts, we have been demonstrating our sincere commitment to regaining the trust of the international community. Aligned with the domestic initiatives of each ASEAN country, JICA’s cooperation programs have laid a solid foundation for development in this region. Through our long-standing cooperation, ASEAN countries and Japan have been able to build mutual trust, and achieved significant improvements on this front.
Respecting ownership and self-help efforts of partner countries has been one of the fundamental principles of JICA. We also emphasize long-term commitments and a shared vision for development. Likewise, JICA values people-to-people interactions, promoting dialogue and building strengths together, rather than unilaterally transferring technology and knowledge.

ASEAN countries have achieved economic growth and poverty reduction through strong ownership, harnessing support from development partners such as Japan. I applaud your valuable contributions to advancing global development by sharing lessons learned from your own economic development experiences with other countries.

ASEAN countries are also gaining global prominence and expanding their role as foreign aid providers. This is a positive trend for international development cooperation, and also highlights the need for enhanced partnerships. That is why JICA is committed to continuing to work with your agencies as equal partners to address today’s global development challenges.

In this spirit, this round table meeting provides an excellent opportunity for us to exchange valuable insights and openly discuss our experiences as both recipients and providers of aid.

I look forward to a productive discussion, as well as generating new ideas to further leverage our experiences, knowledge, and collective voice for the benefit of humanity.

Thank you very much.