TOKYO, Aug. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) expanded their partnership to $6.5 billion, expected to generate approximately $7.5 billion in additional resources, based on the average of the last years, totaling $14 billion in financing to the region. The new framework also adds critical minerals and agriculture as strategic areas of cooperation. A new Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with JICA and the Ministry of Finance will also support health and care systems across the region.
The agreements, signed during IDB Group President Ilan Goldfajn’s visit to Tokyo marking the 50th anniversary of Japan’s membership in the IDB, increase co-financing under the Cooperation for Economic Recovery and Social Inclusion (CORE) framework from $4 billion to US$5 billion and raise the ceiling of the Trust Fund Achieving Development of Latin America and the Caribbean (TADAC) from $1 billion to $1.5 billion for private-sector investment.
“Japan has been one of the IDB Group’s closest and most trusted partners in advancing development across Latin America and the Caribbean. As the bridge between Japan and the region, the IDB Group connects Japanese financing, expertise, and innovation with public- and private-sector efforts to accelerate sustainable growth. By expanding our cooperation framework and trust fund, we are scaling that impact and reaffirming our shared confidence in the region’s future,” said Ilan Goldfajn, IDB Group President.
“For Japan, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are important partners with which we share universal values and which are also important suppliers of resources and food. The agreements signed today represent an important step in further advancing the longstanding partnership between JICA and the IDB Group. Through them, we will bring together our respective financing, expertise, and networks to address the diverse development challenges facing the region. JICA will continue to work closely with the IDB Group to translate these frameworks into concrete development impacts and contribute to inclusive and sustainable growth across the region,” said JICA President Akihiko Tanaka.
Created in 2011, CORE supports co-financing and co-investment in development in Latin America and the Caribbean in areas including infrastructure, disaster risk reduction and resilience, global health, poverty reduction, and climate shock mitigation for non-sovereign operations. It also supports collaboration across the IDB Group, including coordinated JICA and IDB Lab co-investments in venture funds backing innovative companies and entrepreneurial ecosystems in the region.
Under the new agreement, CORE’s financing target increases to $5 billion through 2031, with agriculture and critical minerals added as new areas of cooperation. These additions reflect Latin America and the Caribbean’s growing role as a global supplier of food, energy transition inputs, and critical minerals essential to batteries, electric vehicles, and other strategic industries.
The IDB Group and JICA also agreed to expand their partnership under TADAC, raising the fund’s contribution ceiling to $1.5 billion. Since its creation in 2025, TADAC has deployed $401 million across 12 projects in nine countries through IDB Invest, the IDB Group’s private-sector arm. IDB Invest is currently reviewing 19 additional transactions totaling $589 million.
Finally, the new MoC signed with JICA and the Ministry of Finance on health and care will build on Japan's leadership in healthy aging and long-term care to strengthen health systems, advance digital health transformation, and support the expansion of the regional initiative IDB Cares across the region.
A Cooperation Package for the Next 50 Years
The CORE and TADAC agreements and the new MoC on health and care systems are part of a broader package of new and expanded cooperation marking 50 years of partnership between Japan and the IDB Group.
The package also establishes the US$30 million Japan Resilience Initiative within the Japan Special Fund for critical minerals among other uses; creates a new risk-transfer instrument using NEXI loan insurance to cover an IDB-guaranteed loan; renews the MoU with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to identify public- and private-sector co-financing opportunities, and includes a new MoC with Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to advance resilient, high-quality infrastructure.
The expanded partnership reflects the shared commitment of the IDB Group and JICA to address Latin America and the Caribbean’s most pressing development challenges, bringing together financing, expertise, and innovation to unlock new opportunities across the region.
About the IDB Group
The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) is the leading source of financing and knowledge for improving lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. It comprises the IDB, which works with the region’s public sector and enables the private sector; IDB Invest, which directly supports private companies and projects; and IDB Lab, which spurs entrepreneurial innovation.