JICA President Akihiko Tanaka met with Nardos Bekele-Thomas, Director General of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), at JICA headquarters on November 4, 2022.
At the beginning of the meeting, President Tanaka mentioned the success of the annual JICA-AUDA-NEPAD collaboration talks held on November 1, and expressed his desire to continue to deepen collaboration in line with AUDA-NEPAD’s priority areas.
In response, Secretary Bekele-Thomas introduced that, as a result of the Annual Cooperation Consultation, the AUDA-NEPAD will expand cooperation in the areas of youth assistance, the triple nexus of humanitarian, development, and peace, and African free trade (AfCFTA), in addition to the existing areas of cooperation. It was also proposed that AUDA-NEPAD and JICA take the lead in conducting a review of the future of TICAD, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year.
The two sides also exchanged views on future cooperation with Ethiopia and other conflict-torn countries in the wake of the ceasefire agreed upon in the Ethiopian civil war.
© Source JICA