On February 9, 2024, the Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine Roman Ihnatov, the Deputy Chairman of the Commission Ruslan Sydorovych and the Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Commission Taras Neshyk held a meeting with a delegation from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) — the Head of the JICA office in Ukraine Hideki Matsunaga and his Deputy Head Satoshi Sugimoto.
The purpose of the meeting was to establish cooperation between the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.
JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) is a Japanese government agency that is responsible for providing international assistance and cooperation with various countries around the world. The mission of this institution is to promote sustainable development and human security by providing technical assistance, grants, loans and organisation of training programmes in various fields. JICA supports partner countries in improving their governance, judiciary and media systems, as well as in developing the human resources responsible for managing these systems.
Roman Ihnatov congratulated Mr. Matsunaga on his recent appointment as Head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s office in Ukraine and expressed confidence that the dialogue between the HQCJU and JICA is the first important step towards achieving the common global goal of improving the judiciary and access to justice. He briefed the guests on the Commission’s powers and the procedures currently being carried out by the HQCJU. These included the qualification evaluation, competitions to the courts of first and appellate instances, and preparations for the competition to the High Anti-Corruption Court. Mr. Ihnatov also focused on the Commission’s interaction with civil society, namely with the Public Integrity Council.
Ruslan Sydorovych provided detailed information about the Commission’s work plans in the near future and the challenges that the HQCJU may face in implementing them. He highlighted the need to enhance the digitalisation of the Commission’s work processes.
Mr. Matsunaga assured that the JICA office in Ukraine will consider the proposals of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine on cooperation and elaborate its format, noting that building a society in which human rights are guaranteed, democracy and the rule of law are implemented is one of the Agency’s priority tasks.
Towards the end of the event, the participants expressed satisfaction with the results of the first meeting.
