Bilateral Meeting with the Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA) of Thailand on Operations Strat

JICA (President Sadako Ogata) and the Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA) of Thailand held a three-day meeting in Tokyo from 8th through 10th February to discuss operations strategy and procedures.

The meeting provided a venue for both institutions to have a wide range of discussions including: sharing current directions of operations and policies, explaining Japanese ODA loan operational procedures for project appraisal, ex-post evaluation, and co-financing with other development agencies, introducing JICA’s activities in the field of climate change and private sector partnership, etc.

Thailand is, along with its own remarkable development, gradually expanding a role as a provider of official development assistance to other countries, transforming from the recipient status in recent years. NEDA is an organisation newly established in May 2005 under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance of Thailand, in order to implement Thailand’s bilateral financial cooperation and associated technical cooperation for economic infrastructure development in its neighbouring countries such as Cambodia, Lao PDR, etc.

NEDA and JICA executed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in May 2006 and plan to promote future cooperation and partnership in the Mekong region’s development, through institutional capacity building of NEDA by utilising JICA’s accumulated knowledge of ODA operations. The meeting this time was held as part of this framework.

In the Asian region, there is a growing tendency for countries such as Thailand, as well as South Korea, China, and Malaysia to actively assist other developing countries. JICA is proactively establishing and deepening partnership with the economic development agencies of these countries.