On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Japan's ODA activities worldwide, President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tanaka Akihiko sent a message emphasizing the vision of "Connecting the world with trust" and affirming that Tokyo is steadfast in its commitment to development and the future.
October 6, 2024 is an important milestone for Japan, marking 70 years since the country began its Official Development Assistance (ODA) program in 1954.
Over the past 70 years, as a major global partner, Japan has expanded its cooperation programs to 190 countries and regions, contributing to the economic and social development as well as peace and prosperity of the global community. Japan's international cooperation efforts were initiated with the aim of rebuilding trust in the international community, in parallel with its post-war reparations obligations to Asian countries.
Starting from providing technical training programs to Asian countries and then expanding cooperation programs, Japan has become one of the world's leading bilateral development partners.
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| Nhat Tan Bridge was built with Japanese ODA capital. |
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is the agency responsible for managing the Japanese government's ODA, providing a wide range of cooperation programs, including financial and investment cooperation, technical cooperation, as well as other services such as emergency aid and volunteer dispatch.
In coordination with domestic initiatives of recipient countries, JICA's cooperation programs, such as infrastructure and human resource development, have laid a solid foundation for the development of these countries.
For example, in Thailand, yen loans and technical cooperation provided by Japan in the 1980s helped support the development of the East Coast region, attracting investment in the Thai automobile industry, thereby promoting production and trade throughout the region.
Another prominent example is in African countries, where JICA's agricultural cooperation has helped double rice production and enhance the region's food security.
In Vietnam, JICA has supported the development of Noi Bai International Airport as the country's gateway, along with Nhat Tan Bridge and the road connecting the two, helping Vietnam improve its competitiveness.
JICA's basic principle is to respect the autonomy and self-reliance of partner countries, while emphasizing steadfast commitments with a long-term vision.
JICA values people-to-people interaction, combining the strengths of each party through dialogue rather than one-way transfer of technology and knowledge. This approach enables us to provide solutions tailored to local contexts and cultivate human resources necessary for the sustainable development of host countries, while deepening mutual understanding and trust, thereby strengthening bilateral relations between JICA's partner countries and Japan.
Despite the enormous efforts of the international community, many global challenges remain unresolved. Moreover, issues such as climate change, armed conflicts, pandemics, natural disasters, economic crises and other threats are becoming increasingly complex and interrelated, leading to dual crises.
A United Nations report warns that only 17% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are on track, with just six years to go until the 2030 target date. More than ever, the international community needs to work harder and cooperate more closely to overcome these dual crises.
In response to the changing global context, the Japanese government revised the Development Cooperation Charter in June 2023 as a basis for conducting development cooperation activities in a more effective and strategic manner. Under the revised charter, human security is considered the guiding principle and foundation of all development cooperation activities of Japan.
Human security is a state in which people, as individuals, are free from fear and want and live lives of dignity. In the current dual crises, the human security of many individuals is threatened; in particular, vulnerable groups in developing countries are the most severely affected.
| For more than 30 years of implementation in Vietnam, Japan has always been the largest bilateral ODA donor. At the same time, among more than 100 countries receiving Japanese ODA worldwide, Vietnam is one of the countries with the largest and most comprehensive cooperation with all forms of cooperation such as non-refundable aid (GA), loans (Yen loan), technical cooperation (TC), Japanese enterprise proposal program (JEPP), development partnership program (JPP), volunteer sending program and overseas investment program. |
In addition to the above principles, as Japan's development cooperation agency, JICA also Connects the World with Trust, committed to ensuring human security through poverty reduction efforts based on quality growth.
To achieve these goals, JICA is adjusting its cooperation program to attract diverse stakeholders and support cooperation in development efforts. Many major development issues remain unresolved, and a significant number of them do not have clear solutions.
The complexity of development challenges requires innovative solutions, resulting from collaboration between the public sector, the private sector, academia and other stakeholders. Furthermore, leading global transformations is not the sole responsibility of developed countries. In fact, many developing countries have achieved significant economic growth and many startups from developing countries have entered global markets.
In this context, one of the important keys to accelerating efforts to solve development problems is to use ODA as a catalyst for cooperation, thereby promoting and utilizing the intelligence and technology of these diverse fields. ODA is expected to play an important role in realizing and promoting such co-creation.
Building mutual relationships through continuous dialogue with partner countries to form solutions is a long-standing tradition in Japan's cooperation activities, and based on that tradition, JICA is always ready to promote co-creation.
JICA's vision is "Connecting the world with trust". Our development cooperation activities have been focusing on human security, equal partnership and self-reliance of developing countries.
We are committed to continuing our cooperation with like-minded developing countries and development partners. In today’s changing world, we need to uphold the values that each of us holds essential, while building on the trust that Japan has built over the years to forge a new direction to meet new challenges.
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