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I am Kotohi Inoue, Chief Representative of JICA Djibouti Office.
Djibouti is a small country located in the so-called “Horn of Africa”, has a population of about 1 million. However, its location at the mouth of the Red Sea is strategically and geopolitically important.
Djibouti faces the Gulf of Aden, the entrance to the Red Sea, and serves as the gateway to the African continent, connecting Ethiopia and other landlocked countries by sea. It is also a key location for maritime traffic linking Europe and the Middle East with Asia through the Red Sea, making it a geopolitically important location. Several foreign countries have maintained military bases in Djibouti for several years. Djibouti is also the first and the only overseas location where Japan Self-Defense Forces has a base for its counter-piracy operations.
Taking advantage of its geographical characteristics, Djibouti's economy continues to grow, with the logistics industry, centered on its ports, as its main industry. On the other hand, Djibouti faces various challenges, such as 70% of its population being concentrated in the capital, Djibouti City, and development of rural areas lagging behind, a harsh natural environment with a food self-sufficiency rate of only 3%, and floods and droughts due to climate change in recent years.
Japan and Djibouti established diplomatic relations in 1978, a year after Djibouti gained independence, and Japan's economic cooperation with Djibouti began in 1982. In 2000, JICA opened the office in charge of volunteer activities. In 2005, it became the office in charge of the entire JICA operation.
Japan has been providing assistance in a variety of areas, including the development of social infrastructure to improve people's lives and human resource development to improve social services. For example, the “Fukuzawa Secondary School” in Djibouti City, which was constructed in 1995 through grant aid, was named after Yukichi Fukuzawa by the then Minister of Education of Djibouti and is now known as one of the prestigious schools in Djibouti. Furthermore, the elementary and secondary school built with grant aid in 2024 was named “Inazo Nitobe Basic Education School” and has become a new symbol of friendship between Japan and Djibouti. The Coast Guard of Djibouti has been supported by Japan since its establishment and has been strengthened as an organization with more than 2,000 staff. Furthermore, there was a warm exchange of hearts between Djiboutian and Japanese in difficult situations, such as 3.11 Great East Japan earthquake in 2011 and the inundation in Djibouti 2019.
This year (2025) will mark the 25th anniversary of JOCV (Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers) in Djibouti since the start of their deployment in 2000. Since then, in total, more than 170 volunteers have been working at the grassroot levels with the people of Djibouti.
Through the support for various development issues in Djibouti, JICA has been working to contribute to the stable development of Djibouti as well as to strengthen the good bilateral relationship between Japan and Djibouti. JICA will continue to make every effort to further develop our cooperation. We hope that you will take some interest in JICA's operation in Djibouti.
Kotohi Inoue
Chief Representative, JICA Djibouti Office
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