Countries & Regions

On June 2, commencing at 8:00 a.m. for around 15 minutes, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, held a meeting with Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank, who is visiting Japan in order to participate in the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), which is currently being held in Yokohama City. The overview of the meeting is as follows.

1. Prime Minister Abe started the meeting by expressing his gratitude to the World Bank, which is serving as a co-organizer of TICAD. He commented that he intends to send a message toward the formulation of post 2015 development agenda, working together with the top leaders of African countries at TICAD V, and that Japan would like to continue to cooperate with the World Bank in order to build a strong framework for these initiatives.
2. Dr. Kim responded by stating that the World Bank fully supports an economic growth strategy that is based on “Abenomics,” and that he expects the robust growth of Japan will lead to more growth for Asia and Africa. Furthermore, Dr. Kim commented that the World Bank is focusing on ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity, and that it intends to closely collaborate with Japan, especially in the fields of disaster risk management, universal health coverage, and climate change. He then requested assistance from Japan for the International Development Association (IDA) ’s next replenishment.
3. Prime Minister Abe stated that he wants to disseminate the concept of universal health coverage, which is a focus area in the field of health that is closely connected to human security, sharing Japan’s experience. He said that Japan is conducting a joint study together with the World Bank in order to achieve that. On the topic of disaster risk management, he commented that Japan welcomes the World Bank launching a new hub for disaster risk management in Tokyo, introducing Japan’s financial support of up to 100 million dollars over the next five years for this initiative, and added that Japan intends to collaborate with the World Bank in relation to the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.
4. Lastly, Prime Minister Abe mentioned that Japan is fully aware of the role that the World Bank plays in growth since it utilized the funds of the World Bank and achieved high economic growth, and added that he hopes the World Bank will contribute to the achievement of such growth in Africa.