After operating in Dominica for 20 years, come December 31st 2013 the doors of the local Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office will be closed.
But fisheries minister, Dr. Kenneth Darroux, has said its operations on the island will not be affected in a big way since the agency’s St. Lucia’s office will be serving Dominica.
Darroux told DNO information he has received indicates the closing-down was a cost cutting measure caused by the global financial crisis.
“So while the local Dominican office is being shut down, it doesn’t mean that the services to Dominica are going to be affected in any grand way,” he said. “So it’s not like we are not going to receive the technical assistance from JICA, it’s just that they will be operating from the St. Lucia office.”
Darroux described the JICA’s action as ‘unfortunate’ saying there was an ‘added advantage’ of having a local office.
He also reiterated the importance of Japan to Dominica pointing to “a lot of assistance that we cannot see or touch or feel on a daily basis” that was provided through JICA.
“Apart from the massive visible infrastructure and the complexes, a lot of assistance has been given,” he said. “And we are talking about technical assistance, the development of our basic fishermen, training course manuals which are the envy of the rest of the Caribbean and which are being copied by the rest of the Caribbean countries … all of these were sponsored by JICA.”
I would have preferred Dominica to have mantained links with Japan, rather than what is now becoming dependency on China and everything Chinese.
Sad to see you go, JICA. You taught us the meaning of “Teach a man to fish, he will have fish for life” But our friends have decided that it is better to hand out a fish and not sweat away…not only is it a backward move but many of the opportunities for short term study will be lost. JICA Dominica has had a difficult time getting the govt. to publicize the courses so that Dominicans can get full benefit…some people want only their friends to get these benefits and very often free courses are left unattended because of someone’s selfishness.
Revenue to Dominica lost= no JICA secretary, no rented homes, no teaching of schools and groups how to access and consume local fish.
clear proof of the Chinese influence in Dominica. There are more NGOs to go.
so why they could’t close down the office in Saint Lucia..and keep the one in Dominica opened?? There must be something wrong with Dominica that whenever there is a choice ..Dominica gets the shorter end of the stick..always..
I thought assistance to Dominica only came from China and no more from Venezuela. Our opportunistic diplomacy and yard fowl politics will chase away many traditional friends.
When you have something and you fail to capitalise on it you will soon lose it. Everything dominica has is being lost to St. Lucia.
Skeritt spent all his effort concentrating on china/venezuela and neglected the japanese. Result; japan moves away. That is sure a backward move.
Isn’t there rising tensions between Japan and China, who happens to be our best friend? Maybe that’s the motivating factor behind this decision to close the local office here.
Maybe it has something to do with our close ties to China
So why couldn’t they close down the St.Lucia office and keep the D/ca office open? Is it that it is too costly to do business in Dominica nad that the Government pays moore attention to some of its affliates (bossom bodies) than others?…..Financial crisis my…
The japanese is leaving dominica because fishing is dead.The fishermen are poorly equipped,under trained and not paid enough for their catch.This government has done nothing to assist the fisher folks.
@john bess…….are you serious? are you even aware of the ongoing technical training that the fishermen receive from the Fisheries Division? wish some of you would take some time off to educate yourselves before making such stupid comments
they will really be missed
The world is no longer in a financial crisis. The stock market is doing well.
so true….just an excuse for poor leadership. . and he knows it.
How well is the Asain market doing?