The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), one of the world’s largest bilateral aid agencies, has named Susumu Ito as its new chief representative to the Philippines.
Ito succeeds Noriaki Niwa as head of Jica Philippines Office, a post Niwa held from April 2014 to March this year.
As Jica chief representative, Ito will bring his expertise on development economics and finance in moving forward the strategic development cooperation between Japan and the Philippines that spanned more than six decades. Ito was former senior representative of Jica Philippines in 2009 and has served in key executive positions in Jica Southeast Asia Division and in Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) in Washington, D.C., and in the Asean region.
A graduate of University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and Japan’s Shinshu University, Ito also held various key positions related to finance management and development under the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan in the Middle East and European countries.
Jica is an agency of the Government of Japan implementing technical cooperation, grant aid and yen-loan programs of Japan’s official development assistance to developing countries such as the Philippines. In the Philippines Jica is supporting nearly a hundred cooperation projects, including the study on the Transport Infrastructure Roadmap for Mega Manila, Supertyphoon Yolanda recovery and rehabilitation, and peace and development in Mindanao.