JICA PRESIDENT PRAISES MONGOLIA’S POTENTIAL

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Mr Akihiko Tanaka informed Wednesday on his visit here and projects of JICA taking place in Mongolia. Opening his press conference, Mr Tanaka praised development potentials and undiscovered opportunities of Mongolia that he has found out during his visit here. Visiting the country, the president of JICA met with the Prime Minister and other dignitaries, and delivered a lecture in the National University of Mongolia to emphasize roles and impacts of education to development of the nation. He also got introduced outcomes of major projects of JICA being carried out in Mongolia. Amid his meeting with the Prime Minister of Mongolia, Mr Tanaka discussed with Mr Altankhuyag realization of projects to support engineering high education and to reduce air pollution in Ulaanbaatar and expressed a hope in further strengthened cooperation between the two countries. These two projects have been implemented under mid-term program of Mongolia-Japan strategic partnership. Projects of JICA in Mongolia have been focused of three main areas of ‘sustainable development in mineral resource sector and stronger governance’, ‘support toward inclusive growth’ and ‘strengthened urban functionality in Ulaanbaatar’, highlighted Mr Tanaka at the meeting. Before assuming the present post, Mr Akihiko Tanaka was Professor of International Politics at the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies and at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo. Most recently he was Vice President of the University of Tokyo (2011-2012), Executive Vice President of the University of Tokyo (2009-2011), and Director of the Division of International Affairs of the University of Tokyo (2008-2010). He received the medal of honor with Purple Ribbon for his academic achievements in 2012.