The senior vice-president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Ando Naoki, said on Wednesday, 15 November, that the institution will continue to support the country in various development projects, especially the construction and rehabilitation of socio-economic infrastructure.
The source, who was speaking during the ceremony celebrating JICA’s 20th anniversary in Mozambique, said: “We will continue to support the country in all sectors, especially in the development of human resources. The agency has been co-operating with many countries and we believe that human development is the basis for building a country. We are convinced that this is very important for Mozambique.”
For the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Manuel José Gonçalves, the establishment of JICA in Mozambique signified a paradigm shift in the country. “We’ve had diplomatic relations with Japan almost since 1975, but they decided to closely monitor our cooperation and the implementation of various projects, especially since 2003, in particular the port of Nacala, a modern infrastructure that will serve not only Mozambique but also southern Africa,” he said, reiterating that the cooperation will be consolidated and expanded over the years.
Under the agreements between the two countries, JICA has supported the implementation of various development projects in Mozambique, through non-reimbursable financial co-operation (donation), reimbursable financial co-operation (loan) and technical co-operation, which includes sending Japanese experts and volunteers to support the economic and social development of various public and private sectors. In this area, Mozambique has received around 2,500 Japanese experts and volunteers, and 17,000 Mozambicans have benefited from JICA training and capacity building.
The Agency’s resident representative in Mozambique, Otsuka Kazuki, told Diário Económico last August that the Japanese government had invested around 1.6 billion dollars in various development projects throughout the country.
