Beginning from 2003, when the Japanese Government announced at the Iraq Reconstruction Donors Conference a total of USD 5 billion in financial assistance, JICA has played a significant role in contributing to Iraq’s economic development. Since then, we have provided various technical cooperation for mainly human resource development, including training in Japan and neighboring third countries. Soon after, the first Japanese ODA loans were signed in January 2008 for eight projects (for a total of approximately USD 1 billion equivalent) in reconstructing or upgrading priority areas of infrastructure such as energy, transportation, and agriculture.
To accelerate the implementation of these JICA assisted projects, we established a field office in 2009 and officially opened our Iraq office in 2011. In the following years, JICA has steadily deepened its ties with Iraq. As of now, the total number of participants in JICA training programs have exceeded 10,000 Iraqi people. We have also provided a total of 35 Japanese ODA loans of approximately JPY 1.2 trillion in total to date. Moreover, the first non-sovereign JICA loan to the private sector in Iraq was signed in December 2021, to invest in a new terminal at Umm Qasr Port, the country’s largest commercial port.
As the new Chief Representative of the Iraq office from April 2024, I will continue to place attention on expediting the successful completion of JICA assisted projects. Our office will work closely with the relevant ministries of the Iraqi Government and other stakeholders making full use of our advantage of being present here in this country. Fortunately for this endeavor, we have also recently hired several new Iraqi professional staff and increased the number of Japanese colleagues in the office. I hope that this will soon improve our work further in both the quantity and the quality of our assistance projects. In line with JICA's overall vision of "Leading the world with trust”, I look forward in working together with everyone in Iraq in the coming years, to further promote the relationship between the two countries.
SUZUKI Hiroshi
Chief Representative
JICA Iraq Office
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