JICA Nepal co-hosted two days (6-7 Feb 2023)‘JICA Chair’ academic seminar together with Tribhuvan University (TU), Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS). The theme for the seminar was“Politics in Nepal and Japan: Political Parties and Periodic Elections, referring to the various changes in political and social settings. Similarly, the seminar also focused on history of politics,transition of party politics and lessons learnt through the process in Japan.

‘JICA Chair’ is an initiative of Japan International Cooperation Agency launched with an objective to develop future leaders of developing countries. JICA Chair is organized in JICA partner countries in collaboration with the leading universities to strengthen existing research and education programs as well as becoming a starting point to new initiatives. JICA Chair’s activities include intensive lectures conducted by leading professors and lecturers dispatched from Japan to disseminate Japan’s development experiences in various fields such as politics, economics, public administration, law, and others.

The keynote speaker for the ‘JICA Chair’ seminar in Nepal was Prof. IOKIBE Kaoru from Tokyo University who is an expert on Political and Diplomatic History of Japan. His lecture illustrated the development of the pre-WW2 and post-WW2 Japanese party politics in response to issues of violence, corruption, and policy inefficiency.Prof. IOKIBE also shed light on the modern political system and the coalition between political parties in Japan to maximize efficiency and support economic growth.

The Moderator/Speaker for the event was Prof.Dr. Mrigendra Bahadur KARKI, Executive Director, CNAS (TU), and his topic for the speech was Political Process in Nepal: Political Parties, Elections and Economic Development.The primary objective of the seminar was to discuss strengths and constraints of economic growth in several types of governments.

The round table discussion during the seminar highlighted on the “Political Parties, the New Federal Parliament and Economic Prosperity of Nepal in Relations to Japanese Economic Development”, that included participation of Professors from TU and media personnel.Topics such as philosophy, theory, and practices of political coalitions in context to Nepal and Japan were discussed.

The first initiative of ‘JICA Chair’ in Nepal was a success, leading to productive discussions amongst the panelists and the audience(students) who could develop new insights through sharing of Nepali and Japanese experiences. The CNAS plans to publish a journal based on the research paper of the students and outputs of JICA Chair discussions.

Organizing this event, JICA Nepal aims to continue academic dialogue between Japan and Nepal through similar extensive interaction sessions in the future