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We are pleased to present the 1996 report on the activities of
the Japanese Office of the Inter-American Development Bank.
When the Japanese Office commenced activities in September
1995, the terms of the mandate approved by the Board of Directors
which authorized its opening were broad, and it was difficult
to deduce from such terms the concrete actions to be taken in
order to successfully carry out the work that had to be done.
One thing however, was clear in our minds. Our office was
opened not only to promote the Bank and its activities to the
Japanese community, but also to help further a wide range of
activities that would promote and draw the attention of the
Japanese to the Latin American community.
In order to implement these ideas, the first item of business
was to establish close contacts with the various Latin American
embassies in Japan which are a vital source of information and
networking with Latin America. Ambassadors and other persons
knowledgeable about Japan were invited, and monthly dialogue
meetings were held over the last quarter of 1995. By the time
the 1996 Working Plan was conceived, we were already receiving
requests from some ambassadors to be speakers at such meetings.These
contacts gave the Latin American community in Tokyo and Japan
the perception that our office could be of help with their own
activities. Thus, requests started to come forth from embassies
and other organizations to organize seminars, fora and other
meetings. These requests led to the organization of a number
of seminars over the past year, mainly when ministers of Latin
American countries visited Tokyo, and culminated in two gala
events which were the Seminar on Central American Countries
and the Breakfast-Seminar with President Sanchez de Lozada of
Bolivia.
Another event carefully crafted in 1996 was the Forum on Modernizing
the State and Sustaining Development, which was honored by the
presence of IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias and numerous Latin
American and Southeast Asian personalities. The fruitful discussions
held during this meeting are scheduled to be published soon.
IDB Office in Japan has constantly striven to improve intellectual
and cultural ties between Asia and Latin America. Mr. Bertrand
Aristide, former President of Haiti's participation in an intellectual
debate promoted by IDB Office in Japan is just one example of
this.
In addition to the above-mentioned activities, a program inviting
students receiving funds from the Japan Scholarship Program
to Tokyo was organized.
Finally, upon comparing this report to the 1996 Initial Working
Plan presented at the beginning of 1996, we can see that our
efforts were quite successful and we were able to accomplish
much more than had originally been planned.
Yoshihisa Ueda, Representative
Silvio H. Yanagawa, Deputy Representative
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