On February 9, a seminar of ex-participants of JICA’s training courses in the transport sector was held in the Ministry of Transport of Tajikistan.
According to JICA Tajikistan Office, representatives of the Ministry of Transport and the State Enterprises for Transport Management of Gissar, Rasht, Kurgantyube, Kulyab, Sughd and GBAO regions attended the seminar. JICA Tajikistan Office representatives and Road Administration Advisor for the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan also attended the event.
Mr. Valizoda Rustam Fayz, the Deputy Minister of the Transport welcomed the participants and expressed gratitude to JICA for its support in the development of transport sector in Tajikistan. Mr. Hideki Tanabe, Chief Representative of JICA Tajikistan Office highlighted the importance of proper road assets management which requires allocation of budget, human resources development, etc. in his opening speech.
The seminar consisted of two parts. The first part was aimed at listening to ex-participants of JICA training courses of 2017 who shared their knowledge and experience gained in Japan in the following areas: road maintenance and administration, road disaster management and urban public transport. The knowledge and experience on proper equipment management and maintenance have also been presented. It was proposed to develop brief practical guidelines for engineers of Tajikistan based on the knowledge and experience gained in Japan.
The second part of the seminar was aimed at analyzing the situation of snow cleaning in Tajikistan. It was concluded that being a mountainous country, Tajikistan faces a lack of equipment for winter maintenance of roads.
At the end of their presentations, JICA ex-participants expressed willingness to contribute to the development of road administration and maintenance in Tajikistan and share their knowledge and experience gained in Japan with other colleagues. For example, they found the manual pavement of cold asphalt technology which was shown during the training in Japan very applicable to the context of Tajikistan. They also agreed on the importance of further deepening their knowledge and skills in bridge, tunnel and equipment maintenance and management.
Representatives of JICA Tajikistan office supported the initiative of the Ministry of Transport to conduct the seminar and explained that JICA would be looking forward to cooperating with representatives of the Ministry in implementing their initiatives aimed at improving transport infrastructure in Tajikistan.
At the end of the seminar, Mr. Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Road Administration Advisor for the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, expressed satisfaction with discussions of experience gained in Japan, as well as presentations on snow cleaning situation in Tajikistan. He recommended ex-participants to remember what they learned in Japan, to actively use it in Tajikistan, to study more in order to deepen their knowledge and skills and to share the knowledge with their colleagues as an important step to increase effectiveness of their organizations’ performance.
JICA began its technical cooperation with Tajikistan in 1993 by inviting Tajik officials to gain knowledge and experience on governance and macroeconomics development. As of January 2018, a total number of participants to JICA’s Knowledge Co-Creation Programs, formerly called the Training Programs, has exceeded 2100 people. JICA Office was established in 2006 in Tajikistan and since then various Grant Financial Assistance and Technical Cooperation projects have been implemented more dynamically, aiming at improving living standard of Tajik people for the sectors such as agriculture and rural development, water supply, health, transport, energy, capacity building etc. JICA’s cumulative investment portfolio in Tajikistan in all sectors comprises 33 projects amounting to more than 341 mln. USD (82 mln. USD for Technical Cooperation and 259 mln. USD for Grant Assistance), including 12 on-going projects.
