This year marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the five Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. To celebrate, Japan designated 2005 as the Japan-Central America Year and held a series of events that included an August Summit Meeting of the Heads of State of Central America and Japan and the official celebration of "Central American Day" at the Aichi International Exposition. Other related events included an information seminar and a product exhibition fair organized by the Japan External Trade Agency (JETRO) on November 8-11; visits to Japan by trade and economic officers and journalists from the eight member countries of the Central American Integration Secretariat (SICA) (Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) and several media and cultural activities.

On August 17, 2005, Presidents Abel Pacheco of Costa Rica, Oscar Berger of Guatemala and Ricardo Maduro of Honduras; Vice Presidents Ana Vilma Escobar of El Salvador, José Rizo of Nicaragua, Samuel Lewis Navarro of Panama and Rafael Francisco Alburquerque of the Dominican Republic joined Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Japan-Central America Summit. As a result of that summit, they signed the "Tokyo Declaration," which highlighted areas where they plan to pursue further cooperation in future years. They also signed an "Action Plan," identifying more specific activities to implement the declaration. Both documents are valuable policy tools that, if successfully implemented, will significantly enhance economic, cooperation and diplomatic relations between Japan and the Central American countries.

The IDB supported the Japan-Central America Year in many ways. The seminar "Investment Opportunities in Central America and the Dominican Republic," held at the IDB's Annual Meeting in Okinawa on April 9-10, was listed by the Japanese Government as one of the initial exchange events of the year. The Office also published a Central American tourism brochure that was widely used at the Aichi Expo's regional pavilion. It also contributed to publication of the program of concerts in Japan by the Costa Rican Symphonic Orchestra.