BII and JICA partner to boost investment in Africa and emerging Asia
The UK and Japan's development finance institutions (DFIs), British International Investment (BII), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), have agreed a new partnership to deepen collaboration in mobilising investment into developing economies across Africa and emerging Asia. The partnership was formalised through a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC), signed during Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's visit to Downing Street on 14 June.
The agreement establishes a framework for deeper collaboration, the sharing of best practice, and engagement with institutional and private investors, with the aim of jointly unlocking private capital and scaling investment into projects that drive sustainable and inclusive growth.
This follows increased collaborations between BII-JICA, including recent co-investments and co-financing in Vietnam and across Africa, alongside joint engagement at the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9). This is part of BII's efforts in strengthening long-term, strategic partnerships with Japanese businesses and investors seeking new opportunities across southeast Asia and Africa.
Liz Patterson, Deputy Director, International Finance Directorate at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO):
FCDO welcomes this commitment to closer partnership between BII and JICA. By strengthening collaboration between our development finance institutions, we are creating new opportunities to crowd in private investors and accelerate development impact and sustainable growth across Africa and Asia.
This builds on the UK and Japan's commitment to strengthening their development partnership, as outlined in the joint statement of the Japan-UK Foreign Minister's Strategic Dialogue 2026 . Both countries are jointly advancing essential multilateral reforms, promoting third country cooperation (especially energy resilience), and coordinating on stabilisation and reconstruction in Ukraine and Palestine.
To learn more about UK-Japan development partnership opportunities, please contact the British Embassy Tokyo's Economic Diplomacy Global Challenges Team at:
