admin
Farirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
A Japanese development expert is set to visit Zimbabwe next month and deliver a lecture to Parliament, Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Shinichi Yamanaka said recently.
Speaking during a courtesy call on Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda at the new Parliament Building in Mt Hampden, Ambassador Yamanaka said Dr Kitaoka Shinichi was a special advisor to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) president and had lectured at many universities and government entities across the world.
The visit follows a request by Advocate Mudenda to Ambassador Shinichi when they met in January.
Dr Kitaoka is expected to deliver on lessons that Harare can learn from Japan’s experience after emerging from near total destruction at the end of the Second World War.
“Dr Kitaoka is scheduled to visit Zimbabwe in the week of October 6 and will give a lecture at the University of Zimbabwe on October 9.
Dr Kitaoka will share information on Japan’s development experience since the end of the Second World War, identify lessons that Zimbabwe and other African countries can learn from Japan’s experience and exchange ideas on development opportunities and paths for Zimbabwe.
Japan’s economy is the fourth largest in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product, despite the devastation it suffered when most of its major cities Nagasaki and Hiroshima were atomic bombed during the Second World War.
The Japanese had to crawl out of the ruins to rebuild their country.
Dr Kitaoka has held leadership positions at Japanese institutions that include, president of the International University of Japan and professorships at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Graduate School of Law and Politics, University of Tokyo and the College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University.
He has also served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations. Last October, Dr Kitaoka visited the JICA Botswana office where he met national staff.
It was his first official trip to Botswana where he encouraged JICA national staff to cultivate good relations with the government of Botswana in order to continue the friendship enjoyed between the two countries.
He assured them that JICA values their commitment in fostering international cooperation.
Online Reporter