The IDB and Japan

The IDB’s Office in Asia (ASI) stands to serve Asian member governments, companies, academic institutions, philanthropists, investors, and other actors as their gateway to improving lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

While ASI works actively to mobilize resources from Asia-based entities, the Office also works to connect Asian individuals and institutions with the region’s many investment and partnership opportunities. In this sense, ASI is consistently working to develop knowledge sharing platforms and engage in dialogue about both the IDB and the Latin American and Caribbean region more generally. 

Japan became the first non-regional member in 1976. Since then, Japan has continued to contribute both financial and human resources. Japan hosted the General Assembly twice, in 1991 (Nagoya) and 2005 (Okinawa), and IDB opened the Office in Tokyo (now Office in Asia) in 1995.

Japan holds 5% share in the IDB, making it the largest shareholder among the non-regional member countries. 

The Japan Special Fund (JSF), one of the oldest active donor trust funds at the IDB, provides grant funding for technical cooperation (TC) activities. Created in 1988, the JSF has supported IDB’s efforts to provide capacity building, improve infrastructure, protect the environment, and promote productive sectors in the region. JSF has been amounting to about $ 400 million and contributing to the region with more than 650 projects. Its focus areas include Infrastructure Development, Poverty Reduction, Environmental Sustainability, Private Sector Development and Innovation and Technology. 

The IDB entered into the co-financing agreement with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), namely Co-Financing for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CORE) in 2011. In 2021, the framework was renamed as Cooperation for Economic Recovery and Social Inclusion (CORE) by expanding its targeted sectors to quality infrastructure, resilience for natural disaster, and universal health coverage. Under the framework, JICA has committed to provide around US$ 2.7 billion to the region. Recent projects include the first parallel co-investment with IDB Invest to Dr. Consulta in Brazil in 2023, supporting increase access to health services and promoting innovation in new health technologies.

IDB Lab, with approximately 30% contribution by Japan, teamed up with JICA to operate the open innovation program named TSUBASA (Transformational Start Ups’ Business Acceleration for the SDGs Agenda) in 2021. TSUBASA (meaning ‘wing’ in Japanese) aims to encourage Japanese start-ups to deliver their innovative solutions to address development challenges in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Following the success of two rounds of the program, in which 19 proposals have been identified through Open Innovation Challenge and received incubation/acceleration assistance to support matching with local partners and refine their use cases and development effectiveness. As of August 2024, IDB Lab approved 6 technical cooperation projects and works on another 6 potential projects across the region. IDB Lab and JICA launched the third round of the program in March 2024 with 9 newly selected start-ups and the incubation/acceleration assistance is currently ongoing.