Shinichi Kitaoka, president of the International University of Japan, will head the Japan International Cooperation Agency from Oct. 1, replacing Akihiko Tanaka, the government said Friday.
Kitaoka, 67, has been designated to the top post of the aid agency known as JICA for being well-versed in foreign diplomacy and international politics, the Foreign Ministry said.
He is known to be close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and was acting head of an advisory panel to Abe for his statement issued in August to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Kitaoka, who received a doctorate in jurisprudence from the University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, worked as a professor at the Tokyo University and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies before assuming his position in the IUJ in October 2012.
He also served as deputy permanent representative of Japan to the United Nations from 2004 to 2006.
Hiroyasu Ando will stay as president of the Japan Foundation, according to the government. He assumed his position in October 2011.