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| Ambassador's Speech>2012 >121207 | ||||
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| at the Ceremony for the 40th Anniversary of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) Program in Ethiopia at the Hilton Hotel on 7 December, 2012 | ||||
| Your Excellency Ambassador Berhane Gebre-Christos, State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Your Excellency Ato Fu’ad Ibrahim, State Minister of Education, Distinguished Guests, JICA colleagues and JOCV members, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning! Endemen Aderachehu! It is a great honor as well as a pleasure for me to have this opportunity to share such a joyous moment with you today. First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations on the 40th anniversary of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) Program in Ethiopia. Marking 40 years is a groundbreaking achievement and is proof of long lasting friendship and cooperation between our two peoples. I pay tribute to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for its dedication and hard work to keep the JOCV program running in this country since 1972. I am also grateful to the Government and people of Ethiopia, as a host country, for their hospitality in receiving Japanese volunteers warmly for the past forty years. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Ethiopia is the 7th African country which concluded an agreement with Japan for the dispatch of JOCV members. The Exchange of notes was signed in Addis Ababa in November 1971. The first group of 25 Japanese volunteers set foot on Ethiopian soil in 1972. Since then, a total of nearly 600 volunteers have been dispatched and have been engaged with development in various parts of Ethiopia. In the meantime, Ethiopia has experienced several political changes, from the monarchy, the rise and fall of the socialist regime, to the current federal democratic republic. Despite some turbulent years, the JOCV program has never been interrupted. This demonstrates Japan’s strong commitment to Ethiopia, and I am proud to say that these volunteers have, in many small ways, contributed to the economic and social development of Ethiopia during the past four decades. Today, 47 JOCV members, including three senior volunteers, are working in various parts of Ethiopia. Their activities cover wide-ranging areas such as science and math education, physical education, information technology, water resource management, agriculture and so on. They work closely with local residents at the grassroots level for the benefit of the communities. They are always with Ethiopian people, living in local communities, some communicating in Amharic or the local language, eating and laughing together with the people there, while sharing their knowledge and experience. Therefore, their activities are very visible to Ethiopian people and are highly appreciated by them. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, JOCV members are the “faces” of Japanese ODA, living and working up close with Ethiopian people on a daily basis. Their activities are conducive to friendship and better understanding between our two peoples. In addition, many of them, after joining the JOCV alumni, continue to be engaged with Ethiopia in various ways. One former volunteer started a joint venture using Ethiopian sheepskin to produce quality bags that are now being sold as high end products in Tokyo. She travels back and forth between Japan and Ethiopia and hopes to take this business into the designer realm. Another former JOCV lady is now working as a consultant for Ethio-Japan business. Other former volunteers have been engaged with civil society activity to donate desks and chairs to local schools in Ethiopia for more than thirty years. They all love Ethiopia, based upon the pleasant memories they have of their stay here as volunteers. Many dignitaries, including His Excellency Ato Hailemariam Dessalegn, the Prime Minister, have expressed their appreciation as well as expectations to JOCV members. I am sure that Japan will live up to such expectations and will gradually expand this program. As an anecdote I know that the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was enthusiastic about the JOCV program, showing his particular interest in science and math experiments conducted by volunteers at secondary schools. It was his deep wish that the quality of science and math education would quickly improve and he hoped that these volunteer activities could contribute and help fast track this process. Last but not least, I want to thank the JOCV members themselves for their strong commitment to Ethiopia and their dedicated activities for the benefit of local communities. I fervently hope that you will keep doing a good job in this country, working closely with Ethiopian people. Thank you very much! Amesegenalehu! |
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