The United Kingdom and Japan’s development finance institutions (DFIs), British International Investment (BII), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), have forged a new partnership to deepen collaboration in mobilising investment into developing economies across Africa and emerging Asia. 

The partnership was perfected through a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC), signed during Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s visit to Downing Street last Sunday.

The agreement, which aimed at jointly unlocking private capital and scaling investment into projects that drive sustainable and inclusive growth, established a framework for deeper collaboration, the sharing of best practice and engagement with institutional and private investors.

Liz Patterson, deputy director of the international finance directorate at foreign, commonwealth and development office, said the partnership will deepen sustainable growth across Africa and Asia.

“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,” Ms Patterson remarked.

The development was against the backdrop of 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 in the area of energy resilience– and coordinating on stabilisation and reconstruction in Ukraine and Palestine.