President Tanaka Visited Angola and Malawi

JICA President Tanaka Akihiko visited the Republic of Angola and the Republic of Malawi for the first time from February 29 to March 8. In Angola, President Tanaka attended the Handover Ceremony of Maternal and Child Health Handbook, and in Malawi, he attended the Handover Ceremony for the Old Town substation developed under the grant aid “Project for the Improvement of Substations in Lilongwe City.” In both countries, he held meetings with various government officials, including each nation’s president, and visited the sites of cooperation projects.

In Angola, President Tanaka met with President of Angola, H.E. Mr. João Lourenço, and they shared their joy in the fact that bilateral relations had been strengthened since President Lourenço’s first visit to Japan in 2019. President Tanaka also expressed JICA’s intention to further build on its cooperation going forward in areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, vocational training, and health.
They also confirmed that they would continue to work closely together to realize the “Project for Transmission System Reinforcement in Southern Angola,” the second ODA loan project in Angola and now under preparation.

President Tanaka then attended the Handover Ceremony of Maternal and Child Health Handbook. Since 2017, Angola's Ministry of Health has been working on the development and dissemination of Maternal and Child Health Handbooks in Angola through the “Project for Improving Maternal and Child Health Handbook,” a JICA’s technical cooperation project. Based on this, international organizations such as the World Bank and UNICEF, government agencies such as the United States and the EU, and CFAO Motors Angola, a group company of Toyota Tsusho Corporation, have also endorsed the program and are cooperating in the dissemination of the book. This time, about 150,000 more copies were donated by CFAO and JICA. At the ceremony, State Secretary for Public Health, His Excellency Dr. Carlos Sousa, expressed gratitude for the public and private cooperation of Japan and his expectations for further collaboration in the dissemination of Maternal and Child Health Handbooks to all provinces in Angola by 2025.

President Tanaka also visited the sites of JICA’s cooperation projects, such as “Automobile Mechanics Training Project (known as Toyota de Angola Academy)” commissioned by CFAO, and the grant aid “Project for Renovation of Viana Vocational Training Center.” Opinions were exchanged with ex-participants of JICA training programs and experts of JICA-related projects, to strengthening development cooperation in Portuguese-speaking Africa.

In Malawi, President Tanaka met with President of Malawi, H.E. Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera. The Malawi president expressed his gratitude for JICA’s cooperation that has supported the Malawi government to achieve its policy, offering particular praise for the activities of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs), which boast the largest number of dispatched personnel in the world. President Tanaka explained that the main focus of JICA’s cooperation is human security and confirmed that the agency would continue to work closely with the Malawi government to support its efforts in this area.

President Tanaka also attended the Handover Ceremony for the Old Town substation rehabilitated and strengthened under the grant aid “Project for the Improvement of Substations in Lilongwe City.” Through this project, JICA supported the rehabilitation and expansion of two substations in the Malawi capital of Lilongwe. The Old Town substation is an important facility that supplies electricity to the city center, but prior to the project, there had been frequent power outages due to chronic breakdowns and extensive maintenance needs of transformers and related equipment. In addition, as the population increased, demand for electricity also increased, causing a need to expand the substations.
Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Samuel Dalitso Kawale attended the handover ceremony on behalf of the Minister of Energy, and expressed gratitude for the support provided by Japan and expectations for improved power supply conditions.

President Tanaka then visited the sites of JICA’s technical cooperation “Project for Market-Oriented Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment and Promotion (MA-SHEP),” as well as the grant aid “Project for Expansion of the Terminal Building at Kamuzu International Airport,” and also visited the site of JICA Overseas Cooperation Volunteer activities. In addition to confirm the results of JICA’s cooperation over the years, he met with JICA project personnel and high-level Malawi government officials, exchanging opinions on important future initiatives.