Toward Development through Cooperation in Northeast Asia: JICA-RI Deputy Director Naohiro Kitano Gives a Presentation at the International Conference in South Korea

At the session for sharing experiences of development assistance, Kitano, based on JICA-RI’s activities, presented the examples of development support by JICA and cooperation with Northeast Asian countries. The examples included: the Eastern Seaboard Development Program, which has supported economic growth in Thailand, and “the Project for the Eradication of Poliomyelitis in Pakistan” in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where the loan underpinned by an innovating financing approach “loan conversion” was provided. Three examples of collaboration with Northeast Asian countries were shared: the joint capacity development program between Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and JICA in the area of disaster prevention, Japan-China joint comparative research on agricultural cooperation in Africa conducted with China Agricultural University, and a one-year training project aimed at boosting the counter-narcotics capacities of Afghanistan by Japan and Russia with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Having touched upon the fact that Japan has long experience on south-south cooperation and triangular cooperation, Kitano stated that collaboration among Japan, Korea, China, and Russia in the field of development cooperation will enhance the value of assistance.