WELKAM LO SOLOMON ！THE HAPI ISLES！
Solomon Islands is located in the Melanesia region in Oceania, along with Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Vanuatu. It is an archipelago nation consisting of over 100 large and small islands. While the total land area of all the islands is about 29,000 km2, the ocean has an Exclusive Economic Zone of about 1.6 million km2. It is still a young country that became independent in 1978. The population is about 680,000, and more than 90% of which are of Melanesian. The official language is English, but Pidgin is widely used as a common language.
Oceanian Countries are characterized by (1) Small-sized Nations (land area is limited and populations are small), (2) Isolated (islands are scattered throughout a wide ocean), (3) Remote (distant from major international markets and bases), and (4) Maritime (surrounded by the sea and vulnerable to natural disasters). They are facing various challenges due to these characteristics. Solomon Islands is not an exception.
JICA started its activities immediately after its independence in 1978. In recent years, they have expanded in economic infrastructure such as airports, seaports and roads, industrial promotion based on sustainable resource management, in health and medical care such as counter-measures to COVID-19 and construction of hospitals, in maritime safety such as electronic navigation charting, and in environment and climate change such as improvement of waste management. We are also supporting human capacity development in all the priority areas above.
Although the people of the Solomon Islands face many challenges, they always live cheerfully and vigorously with smiles. Based on the relationship of trust that we have cultivated over many years, we will continue to think and work together with the people of the Solomon Islands, and thus contribute to its nation building.
WATANABE Takeshi
Resident Representative
JICA Solomon Islands Office
scroll