Press Releases

signing ceremony

On March 31, JICA signed an Memorandum of Understanding with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) [1] to promote cooperative efforts toward sustainable economic growth and environmental improvements in Latin America and the Caribbean. The memorandum was signed by JICA Senior Vice-president Kenzo Oshima and IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno in Medellín, the city in Colombia where the IDB is holding its 50th anniversary annual meeting.

The purpose of the MoU is to further promote cooperation for effective development in Latin America and the Caribbean. This region is affected by the worldwide economic crisis, with the situation rapidly worsening and threatening the daily lives of the poor. The IDB is a regional development bank with a history of playing a central role in development cooperation in the region, and like JICA, utilizes a variety of tools such as concessional financing and technical cooperation to provide assistance. The areas the JICA-IDB partnership will particularly focus on are 1) socioeconomic infrastructure and 2) environmental preservation and improvement including measures to fight climate change. Specific ways the two organizations will cooperate include joint financing, coordinated technical cooperation, and co-preparation for country assistance strategy. With Japan scheduled to hold the Foreign Minister’s Meeting of the Forum for East Asia - Latin America Cooperation in September to strengthen relations between East Asia and Latin America, this agreement is expected to produce positive results as a part of increased development cooperation efforts.

With a population of 560 million people, the 33 nations of the Latin America and Caribbean region have a combined gross national product about 2.8 times the economy size of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). With a growing economic presence, the region is being looked to as a source for natural resources, energy and food. Though solid economic growth of five percent and higher was achieved in the period of 2002 to 2007, the global financial crisis has caused rapid deceleration in economic development, leading to concerns that the problems of poverty and disparities will deepen. Many new administrations coming to power are focused on measures to fight poverty and other development issues that have conventionally troubled this region. Stable development in the region is critical for the global community including Japan, and JICA will continue working on development cooperation in the region.

• [1] The IDB is a regional development bank providing development cooperation to the Latin American and Caribbean region through medium- and long-term loans, equity participation, financing guarantees, grant aid and technical cooperation. JICA has worked with the IDB on a number of joint financing and technical cooperation projects.