Recently, President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tanaka Akihiko visited Kyrgyzstan, during of which he answered the questions of correspondent of Kabar News Agency.
- This is your first visit to Kyrgyzstan. What are your impressions of the country?
- This is indeed my first visit to Kyrgyzstan. My first impression is that Kyrgyzstan has great potential. I understand that there are many challenges, but I think that there are policies that the Government can organize and implement to overcome them. Kyrgyzstan is very rich, both in natural and human resources, which can bring about a prosperousfuture.
- Can you please tell us what projects have been implemented by your agency (JICA) in Kyrgyzstan?
- We have covered many important areas of social and economic development. One is financing necessary infrastructure, namely roads. For another, we have been focusing on human resource development. JICA has implemented what we call the “JDS” - Japan Development Scholarship -, which invites talented administrators from this country to earn their masters or doctorate degree in Japan. There are already many Kyrgyz administrators who have completed their studies within the framework of this scholarship, and many of them are currently working in very important positions in the government.
So, human resource development and education are very important. One more area that we have been emphasizing very much in recent years is local community development. Within the “One Village, One Product” project (OVOP), we encourage each community to find goods which can be produced and manufactured locally. These products are then distributed to the markets, which in turn increase the income of members of local communities. During my visit here, I went to two workshops along the shores of Issyk-Kul Lake, and many people, mostly female farmers, were working very actively in producing products considered unique to their community. These community products are being sold not just domestically, but also internationally. For example, orders come from Japanese retail companies, and these products even end up for sale in the United States and Canada.
- “The One Village, One Product” project has received the status of “national economic project”. How do you plan to develop the OVOP project in future?
- We appreciate the Kyrgyz Government’s decision to make OVOP a national project. This decision indicates that thegovernment intends to spread the same approaches throughout the entire nation. I think this is a good policy, but we believe that in order to implement OVOP in the most effective manner, you need to have a real understanding of the people from local communities, and need to consider the necessary incentives to keep them going. In our understanding, even though it’s a national project, you cannot disseminate this program just by order of the Government, you need to have well-planned programs, and JICA is ready to work closely with the Government of Kyrgyzstan so that they can design OVOP community-based projects throughout the country, taking various communities into consideration. We are also interested in transmitting these approaches to other countries in Central Asia, too. The project started in the Kyrgyz Republic has the potential to be spread to many communities in many other countries.
- Your agency is planning to expand the OVOP movement to neighboring countries through regional cooperation. Are there other examples of regional cooperation within the framework of JICA activities?
- We are now reinitiating our “Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers” program. Before the COVID -19 pandemic, there were quite a number of volunteers working in this country. We are hopeful and willing to bring in new volunteers to work in various communities both urban and rural, maintaining our goal of trying to create a better environment forsocial and economic development.
- As we see it, JICA pays special attention to the development of human resources. Could you explain the reason for such attention to the development of human resources and what specific initiatives/projects are being undertaken by your agency in this direction in Kyrgyzstan?
- The basic reason that we engage in human resource development is that, in our understanding, nation building is ''people building”. People are the key to development. In order to improve a structure for use, such as hard infrastructures, scientific knowledge, engineering technologies, and so on, we need talented people. And talented people are, again, the key to national development. That’s my conviction, and Japanese international development cooperation always has elements of human resource development in its activities.
- What do you think, from the point of view of JICA, is necessary for the further development of Kyrgyzstan?
- As I said, this country has great potential, but in order to better utilize such potential you need to follow a strategic plan. Education is very important in that sense. As I stated earlier, JICA has been working on human resource development mainly for graduate school level studies. In order to have talented people at that level, you need to have a really good primary and secondary education. Nowadays it is increasingly important to have better preschool education, as well. There is another issue. As you know, climate change is inflicting terrible damage to many countries. I believe that the country needs to have a better disaster management policy. You have a lot of mountains, and there are winding roads in such areas. One can expect that it is likely that there will be unexpected heavy rainfall, landslides or even avalanches. Disaster risk management is quite important because once a disaster takes place it can wipe out the benefits the country has built up. So, education and disaster risk management are important, and of course you need to utilize your abundant sources of renewable energy.
Interviewed by Nurzhan Kasmalieva
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