The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) today announced the appointment of Katsuo Matsumoto as the new chief representative of its India Office.
Matsumoto is the successor of Takema Sakamoto who completed his three-year tenure with JICA India on May 31, 2018. Previously, he was closely engaged in the work related to the South Asian region while being the Deputy Director General of South Asian Department (SAD) at the JICA Headquarters, Tokyo.
On assuming the office, Matsumoto said, While India is expected to become the world's fastest growing economy, in the coming future, it shall also become home to the world's largest population by 2022. In this context, development of India is expected to contribute greatly to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals with a global impact".
JICA is Japanese governmental agency to channelize the country's ODA, extending concessional loans, technical cooperation and grant aid in an integrated manner to facilitate socio-economic development of emerging countries.
India is the largest partner of ODA from JICA and has been receiving support towards the enhancement of transport infrastructure, water and sanitation facilities, energy availability, agricultural productivity and forest resource management, among others.
"JICA has committed over 398.4 billion Japanese yen (approx. Rs 25,000 crore) towards ODA loans in the FY 2017-18, which when added to the total ODA commitment since 1958, makes an impressive amount of over 5,200 billion Japanese yen (approx. Rs. 330,000 crore)," a statement said.
ODA loans are significantly low-interest and long-term funds suitable for large-scale infrastructure development.