Bilateral

Myanmar-Japan Bilateral Cooperation

1. Diplomatic relations between Myanmar and Japan has been established since 1 December 1954 and the Japanese Government has been providing the official development assistance for socio-economic development of Myanmar.

2. Although the Japanese Government suspended providing ODA loan to Myanmar from 1988 to 2011, Japan continuously provides grant and technical assistance to Myanmar. After 2011 onwards, the Japanese Government resumed providing ODA loan to Myanmar.

3. During the State visit of State Counsellor H.E. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Japan on 1-5 November 2016, Japanese Government pledged to provide JPY 800 billion (USD 8,000 million) within 5 years to support the various development projects of Myanmar as ODA Loan, ODA Grant and Technical Assistance including private sector investment.

4. Under the 800 billion Yen, Japanese Government provided the total amount of JPY 465.338 billion for 17 ODA loan projects amounting to JPY 421.706 billion, 16 ODA grant projects amounting to JPY 41.832 billion and 8 technical assistance projects amounting to JPY 1.800 billion and projects are being implemented. Both sides are negotiating for the remaining projects.

Japanese ODA Grant

5. Japanese Government is providing ODA grant to Myanmar mainly for Health, Education, Agriculture, Human Resource Development, Central Dry Zone, Infrastructure and Water and Electricity Sectors.

6. Japanese Government has provided ODA grant to Myanmar for total 64 projects amounting to JPY 117.104 billion from 2011-2012 to 2018-2019 fiscal years. The 16 grant projects out of 64 projects are being implemented under the JPY 800 billion. 

7. Japanese Government provided PCR Test Kits ၊ PPE ၊ Masks and Surgical Gloves to Myanmar government for prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19. Moreover, ODA grant JPY 2 billion (approximately USD 18.1 million) for the provision of medical equipment in response to COVID-19 is also provided by Japanese government. The Exchange of Notes on this grant aid of JPY 2 billion was signed between H.E. U Bharat Singh, Deputy Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations and H.E. Mr. MARUYAMA Ichiro, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar on 5 June 2020.

8. Japanese Government also provided grant aid JPY 100 million for Provision of the Vehicles and Wireless Equipment, JPY 700 million for the Water Treatment Project in Northern Part of Mandalay City and JPY 1399 million for the Rehabilitation of Vessel Traffic Navigation Aids in Yangon River. The Exchange of Notes on these grant aid were signed between H.E. U Bharat Singh, Deputy Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations and H.E. Mr. MARUYAMA Ichiro, Ambassador of Japan on 2 July 2020.

9. Additionally, JPY 627 million for Human Resource Development Scholarship is provided by Japanese Government and the Exchange of Notes was signed between H.E. U Bharat Singh, Deputy Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations and H.E. Mr. MARUYAMA Ichiro, Ambassador of Japan on  6 July 2020.

Japanese ODA Loan

10. Japanese Government has provided the ODA Loan for 32 projects amounting to JPY 696.840 billion including 17 ODA loan projects under 800 billion from 2013 to March, 2020 for socio-economic and infrastructure development in Myanmar.

11. Japanese Government provides JPY 30 billion as the Emergency Program Loan to remedy the impacts of COVID-19 outbreak in socio-economic sector and reform plans in economic development of the country. The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw approved for receiving this Program Loan on 28 May 2020 and Treasury Department, Ministry of Planning, Finance and Industry are proceeding to receive this loan. 

Japan Technical Assistance

 12. Under the Technical Cooperation Program (TCP), Japanese Government dispatches the short-term and long-term Advisors, Experts, Senior Volunteers and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) for technical assistance projects in priority sectors such as agriculture, finance, education, health and sports sectors.

Human Resource Development Program

 13. Japanese Government is providing assistance for human resource development of Myanmar by inviting Myanmar Government officials to attend the seminars, workshops, meetings and trainings in Japan and also sponsoring several scholarship programs.

 14. Japanese Government has offered the Long-term Training Course on Enhancement of Administrative Capacity and Knowledge Co-creation Programs – KCCP, Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho: MEXT) Scholarship, Young Leaders’ Program (YLP) and the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) etc. 

 15. Japanese Government offered 2859 scholarship awards from 2011 to 2019.