By KUNA,
Tokyo : Japan will double its financial assistance for Africa over the next five years as part of its commitment to support the continent, the government said Tuesday.
“We will double our official development assistance (ODA) to Africa by 2012 in order to promote its development, such as improving technology and infrastructure, raising food production and providing safe drinking water,” Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda unveiled the plan at a meeting of Cabinet ministers.
Fukuda said he will announce details of the plan at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) on May 28-30, to be attended by leaders and representatives from 52 African nations.
“ODA will be proactively used to support doubling private Japanese companies’ direct investment in Africa over the coming 5 years,” he added.
Separately, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said that Tokyo aims to raise its annual aid to Africa to USD 1.9 billion by 2012, including yen loans and grant aids.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Japan’s grant aid to Africa totalled USD 616 million and its loans came to USD 656 million for the fiscal year through March 2008.
“Our increasing aid to Africa is not only to fulfill its obligations as a member of the international community, but also for securing resources in African countries and winning support for Japan’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council,” the top governmetn spokesman told a news conference.
He also said that support for Africa’s food production will be high on the agenda for the TICAD.
Japan’s total spending on ODA last year decreased by 30.1 percent from 2006 to USD 7.69 billion.
The nation topped the ranking as the world’s largest donor in 1991-2000, but then fell to second behind the US in 2001 and dropped to third when overtaken by Britain in 2006.