The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), an independent governmental agency that coordinates official development assistance (ODA) for the government, has played an important role for the country in its relations with foreign nations. The following is the story of a JICA staff member who worked from 2007 to 2009 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central Africa .
In April 2007, Tsutomu Iimura arrived in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, after working for the JICA office in Dakar, Senegal, from 2005 to 2007. His new mission was to open a new JICA office in the DRC.
Japan's economic cooperation in the DRC dates back to the 1970s, when the country was known as Zaire. Over the years, through the help of JICA staff members assigned at the Japanese Embassy, Japan extended support in building the country's infrastructure and in developing human resources. Unfortunately, these activities came to a halt in 1991 due to the civil war. Following the presidential elections in 2006, Japan decided to resume full-scale bilateral assistance to the DRC, this time from its own office.