Japan to continue financing Scholarship Program for JDS

Bishkek, Aug. 24, 2018. /Kabar/. The government of Japan made a decision to provide grant assistance to the Scholarship Program for Development of Human Resources (JDS) for 2018 Japanese fiscal year, the Embassy of Japan in Kyrgyzstan reported.

The signing ceremony of Exchange Notes between Ambassador of Japan to Kyrgyzstan Yeshiro Yamamura and Kyrgyz Minister of Finance Adylbek Kasymaliev took place on Thursday. Moreover, the Permanent Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Kyrgyzstan Kazuhiko Kikuchi and Minister of Finance Adylbek Kasymaliev signed a Grant Agreement that defines further procedure concerning implementation of this project.

This fiscal year 20 JDS participants from among state and municipal officials of Kyrgyzstan will travel to Japan to obtain Master’s and Doctor’s degrees for various specialties in leading universities of Japan.

The purpose of JDS is providing support to the Kyrgyz Government in training staff and developing bilateral relations between Japan and Kyrgyzstan. The program is intended for young state and municipal officials that are able to take leading positions in the government system of Kyrgyzstan after completing studies in Japan and contribute to the development of Kyrgyzstan in different spheres.

The government of Japan has been realizing JDS as a part of grant assistance in Kyrgyzstan since 2006. So far, 176 scholarship holders have been sent from Kyrgyzstan to Japan for studies within JDS, 141 of them have already returned to Kyrgyzstan, having successfully defended their dissertations and obtained Master’s degrees. At the moment they hold leading positions, in a number of ministries and entities of the republic.

The government of Japan expects the JDS scholarship holders to gain professional knowledge and increase their qualification during studies, establish contacts and exchange experience with participants from other countries, and further to apply acquired knowledge and skills in resolving socio-economic problems in the country, and therefore, contribute to the country’s development and increasing welfare of the people of Kyrgyzstan.