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Vol.10

Summer 2015

On the cover: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, the first Japanese prime minister to do so (April 2015).

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International Cooperation

Half a Century of JOCV Activities

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) program, launched in 1965. To support the social and economic advancement of developing countries, in addition to providing financial assistance in such forms as grant aid and ODA (Official Development Assistance) loans, Japan has been extending technical cooperation, including the dispatch of experts to developing countries and the hosting of trainees in Japan. The JOCV program is one of the pillars of this international cooperation based on human interaction.

Contributing to Global Peace and Stability

SDF Participation in U.N. Peacekeeping Operations

Japan has been contributing to the international community in security as well as in other areas. Its contributions include the dispatch of contingents from the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to participate in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (PKO). The first PKO dispatch of an engineering unit from the SDF was to Cambodia in 1992–93.