JICA president due tomorrow

Dr. Akihiko Tanaka, President of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will visit Bangladesh from June 14 to June 17.

 It will be his first visit to Bangladesh as JICA President.

The previous JICA president last visited Bangladesh in March, 2003.

Dr. Tanaka will visit several sites of JICA projects on June 15. He will make courtesy calls on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Finance Minister Abul Maal A. Muhith,  deliver a memorial lecture at the University of Dhaka and attend the Signing Ceremony of the 35th ODA Loan Package on June 16.

Dr. Akihiko Tanaka was Professor of International Politics at the Inter-faculty Initiative in Information Studies and at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo. Just before assuming the president post of JICA in April 2012, he was Vice President of the University of Tokyo.

He obtained his B.A. in International Relations at the University of Tokyo in 1977 and his Ph.D. in Political Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981.

Dr. Tanaka's specialties include theories of international politics, contemporary international relations in East Asia, and Japan's foreign policy. He has numerous books and articles in Japanese and English including the New Middle Ages: The World System in the 21st Century (Tokyo: The International House of Japan, 2002).

He was awarded the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon by the Government of Japan for his academic achievements in 2012, according to a statement.