ADDIS ABABA – Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) announced that it has been working aggressively to further bolster bilateral ties between Ethiopia and Japan in education and other sectors.
Scholarship returnees pledged to employ the experience they have got to contribute their share in country’s development endeavors.
In Africa Business Education (ABE) Initiative Scholarship reporting program organized by JICA yesterday, Japan Embassy to Ethiopia Counselor, Deputy Chief of Mission Akira Uchida said that the government of Japan is strongly committed to enhance collaboration with Ethiopia in education, agriculture, infrastructure and private sector development.
So far, Ethiopia has been benefiting from the ABE Scholarship Program offered by Japanese government through sending close to 70 young officials drawn from public, private and academic sectors to Japan.
Though the number is quite small, it is the largest one compared to other African countries. This will enable Ethiopia to develop its human resources which is indispensable to country’s socio-economic growth’, he stated.
In his message forwarded to scholarship returnees, JICA Ethiopia Chief Representative Ken Yamanda said, “Graduated students should contribute your share for Ethiopia’s bright future playing a leading role in Ethiopia institutions.” Indicating that a lot should be done to further develop and modernize Ethiopia, he said, the role of graduates in this regard is immense.
Appreciating their stay in Japan, scholarship returnees said that the knowledge and expertise they acquired from Japanese universities and firms is quite important to bring change in their respective institutions.
The ABE Initiative is introduced by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with a view of promoting human resource development in the public, private and academic sectors in Africa through dispatching young African students to Japan to attend Masters degree courses and internship programs.
