JICA Senior Vice President tours SL

A high-profile delegation led by Kenzo Oshima, Senior Vice President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) met Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development yesterday at the Ministry of Economic development.

During his stay in Sri Lanka Kenzo Oshima will inspect some of the JICA assisted local rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in the Northern Province.

Founded in 1974, JICA implements technical assistance programmes for the Government of Japan in 165 countries throughout the world. JICA’s technical assistance to Sri Lankan covers a wide-range of sectors, including health, education, transport, energy, agriculture, fisheries, small & medium scale industries, and community development.

The Minister thanked the Japanese government, JICA and Japanese people for the help and assistance extended to the Sri Lankan government and the people. Japan was the major donor who provided development assistance to Sri Lanka during the last four decades. Development cooperation included funding for Sri Lanka’s major development projects, technical assistance and training and skill development assistance. Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) coordinated most of the Economic and Technical Cooperation Programme.

The Minister discussed the progress JICA assisted programmes such as Kalladi bridge construction programme, livehood development programmes in Vanni and Mannar Districts, Tank development projects in Northern Province and tourism development projects. JICA agreed to continue its economic cooperation and extended assistance to develop a digital map for the Northern Province.

Oshima said JICA will help not only the northern development but also the whole country as done by it from the inception of JICA Economic Cooperation Programmes.

Sachiko Misumi, Deputy Director General, South Asia Department of JICA head office; Kunihiko Sato, Special Assistance President, JICA Head office and Akira Shimura, chief representative, JICA Sri Lanka office also participated at this occasion.