While in Tokyo attending the 12th Annual Meeting of the Asian Eximbanks on November 8-11, 2006, ADFIAP Secretary General, Mr. Octavio B. Peralta, took the opportunity to meet with the Association of Technical Scholarship (AOTS) officials led by Mr. Daisuke Maki, General Manager of its Training Division and his colleagues, Mr. Yasumi Suzuki and Ms. Chieko Yamaguchi, and discussed potential joint management programs that would benefit ADFIAP members. Points of interest are in the area of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and environmental management.

The ADFIAP-AOTS relationship started in the early nineties and have since co-organized various training programs for ADFIAP members such as the “Top Management Seminar on Japanese Business; the “Middle Management Seminar” and the “Program on SME Financing for Asia and the Pacific”.

AOTS (https://www.aots.or.jp) is a non-profit organization established in 1959 with the support of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Its main purpose is to promote technical cooperation for the industrialization and development of developing countries and enhance mutual understanding and friendly relationships between those countries and Japan. Todate, AOTS has trained more than 100,000 persons in Japan from over 160 countries in different regions. In addition, it has organized various training programs outside Japan involving over 130,000 participants from developing countries. The activities of AOTS are financed by Japanese government’s subsidy, company contributions, and other sources.