JAPAN
Many Opportunities For Fruitful Cooperation Work done by the JICA Balkan Office in 2021, in cooperation with its Serbian counterparts, in many fields – from support to future investments in agri-tourism and volunteerism – demonstrates why every year in the 140-year-long friendship between Serbia and Japan is history in the making
JIRO TAKEICHI, Chief Representative of the JICA Balkan Office
O
ne interview is certainly not enough to explain in detail the plethora of activities performed by the JICA Balkan Office in the year behind us. Nonetheless, Jiro Takeichi, Chief Representative of the JICA Balkan Office, offered us an effective overview of major developments that occurred despite occasional confinement caused by the need to work remotely. Among the most important highlights are certainly the improvement of public transportation in Belgrade, the pilot project in the area of agriculture and the work of 28
Japanese volunteers engaged in various fields, such as judo, support to people with disabilities and disaster management. On top of all that, the JICA office was also engaged in presenting investment opportunities in Serbia. While we are slowly approaching the second year of being more or less confined to working remotely, how do you manage to bring together Serbian and Japanese interlocutors to work on projects?
At the JICA Balkan Office, we have successfully combined working from the office and remote working. Due to the improved IT environment in the past two years, we have implemented remote working efficiently and without major obstacles. On the other hand, as a member of the diplomatic corps, I am really grateful to the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for providing the Japanese staff at our office the opportunity to get vaccinated. For that reason, we didn’t have to evacuate to Japan and we all remained and
