Ambassador of Japan to ASEAN for JICA Magazine: Drawing Out Japan’s Strength in Painting the Future with ASEAN

01 August 2023 -

Ambassador of Japan to ASEAN KIYA Masahiko was interviewed by JICA Magazine about his expectation for Japan and the possibility of cooperation between Japan and ASEAN.

Ambassador Kiya said that Japan is now at the forefront of cooperation with ASEAN countries. The important thing is to continue to lead the way. An ongoing example is the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). This year, Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio announced a new contribution of USD100 million to the JAIF 3.0, which supports the deepening of the ASEAN community and the correction of intra-regional disparities and promotes cooperation between Japan and ASEAN.

Ambassador added, “In addition to the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation Commemorative Summit in December, I would like many people to participate in the series of meetings and commemorative events. We will also aim to “visualise” Japan’s efforts. I believe that we can further strengthen horizontal cooperation by widely communicating what we have built and what we are doing to both the ASEAN side and Japan. Through visualization, we will create opportunities for various organizations to collaborate,”

“There are many areas in which Japan and ASEAN can cooperate, but innovation and start-ups are particularly important. It should be possible to apply the results of cooperation with ASEAN to other regions and scale up to the rest of the world. In this regard, I believe that ASEAN is the most suitable partner,” he concluded.