- JICA to Provide Concessional Loans Up to $300 Million for Central America and the Caribbean
- Institutions will Support IDB Energy Innovation Center
TOKYO, Japan – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support renewable energy and energy efficiency for the mitigation of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean. The MOU was signed between IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno and JICA's President Sadako Ogata, former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
JICA, which administers the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of the Japanese government, is the world’s largest bilateral aid agency with operations in over 150 countries and regions and has some 100 field offices. The organization assists economic and social growth in developing countries and promotes international cooperation.
One of the key priorities of the JICA is to increase assistance and strengthen climate change operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The region’s global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rate is currently 12 percent, which is relatively small but is expected to grow. In addition, the LAC region contributes more to the GHG emissions per capita compared with other developing countries, such as China and India.
In this context, JICA signed the MOU with the IDB to establish a new co-financing framework to proactively support renewable energy and energy efficiency promotion programs and projects in Central America and the Caribbean. The framework includes JICA’s long-term concessional loans of up to $300 million for the next five years.
The MOU will also enhance JICA’s support for the IDB’s Energy Innovation Center launched jointly with the U.S. Department of Energy last year. The center serves as a regional incubator for cooperation, resource mobilization and knowledge dissemination. A JICA technical specialist has been appointed to the center to promote effective and efficient cooperation with Japan. The center recently held a successful seminar on energy efficiency in Tokyo.
This agreement will further strengthen the enduring and successful relationship between the IDB and Japan. Japan joined the IDB in 1976 as the first Asian member and has already contributed over $5 billion to the Bank’s financial resources. Japan has recently pledged additional $3.5 billion to the IDB’s Ninth General Capital Increase.
The IDB, through its Office of Outreach and Partnerships (ORP) has facilitated the accomplishment of this partnership that will mobilize additional financial and non-financial resources for the Bank to increase the support for its member countries.