DUSHANBE, September 14, 2012 Asia-Plus -- Issues related to cooperation between Tajikistan and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have been discussed in Dushanbe.

On Thursday September 13, Deputy Foreign Minister, Nizomiddin Zohidov, met here with Kae Yanagisawa, Director-General, East and Central Asia and Caucasus Department, JICA and Deguchi Katsuyuki, JICA Country Coordinator for Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Tajik MFa information department reported.

In the course of the talks, the sides reportedly discussed state and prospects of further expansion of cooperation between Tajikistan and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

According to data from the Tajik MFA, the Government of Japan provided more than 15.3 billion yen (equivalent to approximately 184 million U.S. dollars) in no-strings aid and technical assistance to Tajikistan from 1993 to 2011 for development of its economy.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency is an independent governmental agency that coordinates official development assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries, and the promotion of international cooperation.

JICA was established by the Law concerning the Independent Administrative Institution Japan International Cooperation Agency.  The current organization was formed on October 1, 2003 as outlined in the International Cooperation (Independent Governmental) Agency Act of 2002. Its predecessor, the (Japan) International Cooperation Agency (also known as "JICA"), was a semi-governmental organization under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, formed in 1974.

A major component of the comprehensive overhaul of Japan''s ODA that the Japanese government (Diet) had decided on in November, 2006 is the merger in 2008 between JICA and that part of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), which currently extends concessional loans to developing countries.

Since its completion on October 1, 2008, "New JICA" has become one of the largest bilateral development organizations in the world with a network of 97 overseas offices, projects in more than 150 countries, and available financial resources of approximately 8.5 billion U.S. dollars.

The reorganized agency is also responsible for administering part of Japan''s grant aid which is currently under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and so all three major ODA components—technical cooperation, grant aid, and concessional loans—are now managed “under one roof.”