On October 19, Akihiko Tanaka, President of JICA, met with Balham Saleh, High Commissioner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at JICA headquarters.
At the outset, Chairman Tanaka welcomed High Commissioner Saleh’s return to Japan, following her visit this past May, and expressed his hope to further deepen the cooperative relationship between JICA and UNHCR in the future.
In response, High Commissioner Saleha shared her observations from visits to various parts of the world, including Afghanistan and the Sahel region, and the two exchanged views on the importance of higher education opportunities for refugees.
The two organizations also renewed their Memorandum of Understanding, which has been in place since 2007, and confirmed that they would promote cooperation by focusing on the socioeconomic inclusion and self-reliance of refugees, as well as voluntary and sustainable return. They agreed that UNHCR, a humanitarian aid agency, and JICA, a development aid agency, would leverage their respective strengths to advance this collaboration.
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