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: tokyoedd.enquiries@fcdo.gov.uk.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About British International Investment:
British International Investment is the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor. The organisation invests in businesses in developing countries to improve people’s lives and help protect the planet. BII’s work targets the underlying causes of poverty and the climate crisis, helping countries break free from aid dependency for good.
Between 2026-2031, at least 40 per cent of BII’s total new commitments by value will be in climate finance. BII is also a founding member of the 2X Challenge which has raised over $33.6 billion to empower women’s economic development. The company has investments in over 1,600 businesses across 66 countries and total net assets of £9.87 billion. For more information, visit: www.bii.co.uk watch here or contact enquiries@bii.co.uk. Follow British International Investment on LinkedIn, Bluesky and X.
About Japan International Cooperation Agency:
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), an incorporated administrative agency in charge of administering Japan’s ODA, is one of the world’s largest bilateral aid agencies supporting socioeconomic development in developing countries in different regions of the world.
JICA uses an array of development assistance schemes to meet the diverse needs of developing countries around the world. Its ODA programme covers technical cooperation, grant aid and loans including Private Sector Investment Finance (PSIF) in an integrated manner.