ADB, JICA to Strengthen Collaboration to Help Asia in Fight Against COVID-19
New Delhi: Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masatsugu Asakawa and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President Shinichi Kitaoka today reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen collaboration to assist ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs) in their response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“ADB and JICA have a long history of collaboration and partnership in a number of key areas, including supporting DMCs to accelerate progress toward achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and cofinancing on quality infrastructure,” said Mr. Asakawa. “COVID-19 poses serious health, social, and economic threats to the region. It is important that we find ways to enhance our collaboration, including cofinancing, to help developing member countries address the pandemic.”
In their call, the two presidents discussed the economic and social status of economies in Asia and the Pacific in the wake of the pandemic and their organization’s respective assistance packages.
ADB announced a $20 billion assistance package on 13 April to address the needs of its DMCs as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The package includes $13 billion for quick and affordable budget support to help DMCs counter the severe macroeconomic impacts arising from the pandemic with countercyclical expenditure with the focus on the poor and the vulnerable. Some $2.5 billion of the package is available as concessional and grant resources, and about $2 billion is earmarked for loans and guarantees to the private sector to rejuvenate trade and supply chains. ADB will expand its technical assistance to DMCs in designing, improving, implementing, and monitoring health and other sector actions against COVID-19.
JICA is preparing a COVID-19 crisis response emergency support loan program to strengthen countries’ capacity to respond to COVID-19 and revitalize economic activities in those hit hard by the pandemic. Its assistance will be provided as standalone loans or cofinancing with multilateral development banks, including ADB.
ADB and JICA have a strategic partnership to cofinance $10 billion in quality public infrastructure investment between 2016 and 2020. The two organizations also established in 2016 the $1.5 billion Leading Asia’s Private Sector Infrastructure (LEAP) Trust Fund to promote private financing for infrastructure development, including through public–private partnerships.
The two organizations are also collaborating at country and regional levels in the areas of health security, UHC, and specific health issues concerning the elderly under a partnership signed in May 2017.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.