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President Kitaoka and President Malpass (photo courtesy by the World Bank)

On December 15, JICA President KITAOKA Shinichi held an online meeting with World Bank Group President David Malpass. President Kitaoka and President Malpass acknowledged the concrete collaboration outcomes of the annual Deep Dive meeting between the World Bank Group and JICA, which has been held since 2014. The two organizations were also able to share views on important themes such as climate change. President Kitaoka and President Malpass confirmed that they will continue to strengthen the partnership.

The two presidents then moved on to exchanging views on the situation in Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Sudan, and reaffirmed the importance of humanitarian assistance to conflict-affected and fragile states. Also, both presidents shared the sense of crisis of the growing inequality caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and wavering of democratic regimes in many countries. Against this background, they reconfirmed the important role of development cooperation agencies in economic and social development. With respect to combating climate change, which is an urgent issue for every country, both agreed on the importance of investing in quality infrastructure that contributes to both development and climate change measures.

JICA will continue to contribute to the advancement of developing countries in partnership with the World Bank Group.