Building off decades of partnership, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) formalized a new agreement, which amends a previous arrangement, that will include the United States dollar as the official currency for JICA loans. The agreement is complemented by the launch of the first IDB-JICA project financed in the new currency.

With the signatures of Bernardo Guillamon, Manager of the IDB’s Office of Outreach and Partnerships, and Ryosuke Nakata, Chief Representative of JICA in Washington, DC, this amendment enhances the parties’ existing partnership through the Co-financing for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CORE) program. Toshiyuki Yasui, Executive Director from Japan at the IDB, attended the signing as well.

The project, which strives to enhance Jamaica’s energy efficiency and conservation potential through cost-effective energy efficiency and energy conservation measures, specifically tackles challenges in public buildings and the transportation sector.

Established in 2012 to support renewable energy and energy efficiency for the mitigation of climate change in Central America and the Caribbean, the CORE program was enhanced earlier this year in scale, scope, and geography. Now a regional effort, the CORE program has expanded to include quality infrastructure efforts and to increase the target amount of JICA’s co-financing from US$1 billion to US$3 billion. Critically, the 2016 expansion of CORE included the Japanese government’s creation of the Japan Quality Infrastructure Initiative (JQI), the IDB’s first built-in grant mechanism for a co-financing arrangement.