On August 7, JICA held a ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the start of its cooperation with Costa Rica. The ceremony began with opening remarks by Vice President Miyazaki, followed by presentations by former Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) and former experts on their experiences and their thoughts for the future friendship between Costa Rica and Japan. In addition, First Vice President Brunel of Costa Rica gave a congratulatory address.
The First Vice President of Costa Rica, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Science, Innovation, Technology and Communications, Costa Rican Ambassador to Tokyo, and others from Costa Rica’s home country visited Japan, and the Japanese Ambassador to Costa Rica, JICA officials, and others involved in Costa Rican cooperation participated.
The Republic of Costa Rica is a biodiverse country located in Central America. The population is approximately 5 million, and the land area is about 13.5% the size of Japan (Kyushu and Shikoku added together). The country is so rich in nature that 25% of its land is designated as a national park.
Japan’s cooperation with Costa Rica is guided by the basic principle of “co-creating a sustainable and inclusive society. Through various projects, JICA has been working to reduce disparities and create an inclusive society, create opportunities to mitigate risks of global issues and realize a decarbonized society, and strengthen the industrial base.
An example of a specific project is the Capacity Strengthening Project on Integrated Biodiversity Management and Conservation in the SICA Region, which runs from 2019 to 2024. The Central American Integration Agency-SICA consists of eight countries in Central America and the Caribbean and is rich in biodiversity, but forests and wetlands are declining. To conserve these areas, it is necessary to build information systems, study and disseminate business models, share knowledge, and strengthen capacity, and Japan provided support for these efforts. In addition, Japan is currently implementing the “Strengthening Collaborative Management Capacity for Participatory Governance and Ecotourism in Conservation Areas Project. Through this project, Costa Rica will use the knowledge it has gained so far to provide sustainable tourism capacity to protected area managers in Latin America. The goal of this project is to improve the income of people living near protected areas and to promote understanding of protected areas.
Project liaison officers, who learned how to systematize biodiversity conservation experiences through the “Strengthening Collaborative Management Capacity for Participatory Governance and Ecotourism in Conservation Areas Project,” served as lecturers and explained the importance and significance of systematization and its methods to other staff members. (Photo courtesy of JICA)
In Costa Rica, Japanese people have visited the area as experts and overseas cooperation corps for these various activities and have implemented international cooperation together with local people. There are approximately 800 Japanese who have worked as Overseas Cooperation Volunteers in Costa Rica, and more than 600 who have worked as JICA experts. At this ceremony, three of them gave speeches about their experiences in Costa Rica.
Yoshimichi Kozuka, the first expert sent to Costa Rica, spoke about his work as a medical expert on the electron microscopy unit he conducted 50 years ago at the Centro Investigacion en Biologia Cellular (Cell Biology Research Center). He also mentioned his life there and his interaction with the people.
In addition, Ms. Maria Yamashita, a former Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV), shared her experiences during her stay in Costa Rica as a JOCV in 2018. She expressed her desire to spread the spirit of “Pura Vida” (cherish joy and happiness, and live optimistically), which is cherished by the local people, to Japan as much as possible, and to further promote exchange between Japan and Costa Rica.
Mr. Tadao Kikuchi talked about the seven years he spent in Costa Rica, the first time as an Overseas Cooperation Volunteer with the Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for two years, and the second time as a JICA expert for five years working on a project promoting participatory management in biodiversity conservation. He gave a speech about how his experience in Costa Rica has enriched his values and human perspective, and about the future friendship between Costa Rica and Japan.
In closing, First Vice President Brunel noted that Japan’s focus on areas of development relevant to Costa Rica, such as human resource development, education, Japanese language education, and sports, has certainly contributed to strengthening bilateral relations and has allowed the two countries to learn from Japan’s knowledge and capabilities. The ceremony closed with a celebration of another 50 years of cooperation.
The First Vice President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the participants interacting with each other.
© Source JICA
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