Session 3 and concluding remarks
Session 3: Japan-Australia cooperation in a COVID world: The case of the South Pacific Island nations
Moderator: Mr Kiya Masahiko – Consul General of Japan in Sydney, Government of Japan
JICA’s approach and possible Japan-Australia collaboration
Speaker 1: Mr Tamio Shinya - Director of the Pacific and Southeast Asia Division 6 of Southeast Asia and Pacific Department in the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
In his presentation, Mr Tamio summarised the role of JICA, which oversees the implementation of Japan’s Official Development Assistance, which is provided through technical cooperation, loans and grants. The organisation’s broad vision is to aspire for a free, peaceful and prosperous world through the implementation of development cooperation by building trust whilst collaborating with partners to achieve development goals and potential of respective countries.
He explained that Japan has a solid history of supporting the Pacific Island countries (PICs) and its support is aimed at building good relationship and safeguarding geopolitical stability as the neighbours in the Pacific Ocean and sustainable use of natural resources in the region. In July this year, the Japanese government held the Ninth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM9) and announced that assistance would be based on the following five priority areas: COVID-19 response and recovery; sustainable oceans based on the rule of law; climate change and disaster resilience; strengthening the foundation for sustainable and resilient economic development; and people-to-people exchanges and human resource development.
In the health and medical sector, JICA has been supporting the PICs with emergency assistance loans; grants to support health and medical infrastructure; and capacity development of medical personnel through technical cooperation. This is consistent with JICA’s Build Back Better initiative in the regional health sector which has vulnerabilities to cope with COVID-19 and safe re-opening of border. He also underlined the establishment of a possible collaboration with Australia in Papua New Guinea in delivering JICA’s five priorities in the Pacific region.
Japan-Australia cooperation in the Pacific Islands
Speaker 2: Professor Joanne Wallis - Professor of International Security, University of Adelaide
Professor Wallis presented the key findings from her research titled “A networked security architecture in the Pacific: implications for Australia”, which was funded by the Australian Department of Defence. This research aims to explore how the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan alliances and partnerships can operate in the Pacific Islands and form the basis of a networked security architecture.
The initial output generated by this project is a report and animated map. They find that there is no unifying security architecture in the Pacific region. Instead, security cooperation in the Pacific Islands is best described as the weaving together of a patchwork of bilateral and multilateral agreements, arrangements, and institutions. In some key areas there is relatively comprehensive security cooperation, including maritime security, transnational crime and border management, cybersecurity, humanitarian and disaster relief, and environmental and resource security. But there are gaps, including in health and human security, economic development, and infrastructure.
She explained that there are opportunities for Japan-Australia cooperation, since the two countries are politically ‘like-minded’ partners, with shared – although not identical – strategic interests and have relatively good reputations with PICs. They also have the resources and expertise to deliver substantial programs in the region, although cooperation is at times challenged by cultural differences and differing project-implementation standards of the two countries.
Concluding Remarks
Emeritus Professor Purnendra Jain wrapped up the symposium by commenting on the high quality of presentations and thanked the speakers and moderators for their incisive analyses and also the large number of participants who joined the symposium from different locations around the Indo-Pacific region. In his concluding remarks the Director of the Stretton Institute Professor Adam Graycar thanked everyone for a rich discussion on the subject and he also thanked the Japan Foundation for its financial support and the JICA Ogata Sadako Institute for Peace and Development for collaborating on the project.
You can watch the recording of session 3 below: