Japan played a leading role in shaping the New Development Strategy, ("Shaping the 21st Century: The Contribution of Development Cooperation," or NDS) adopted in the OECD/DAC in May 1996. The NDS analyzes the development aid experience of the past fifty years and summarizes the roles ODA has played in the international community, and the need for continued assistance.

The goal of development is "people-centered"; in other words, the goals of development must be focused on improving the quality of life for individual human beings. This requires stress on both "ownership" - i.e., the primary responsibility of the developing countries themselves to seek to improve their own status - and "partnership" - i.e., ties with industrialized countries that support developing countries in these efforts. In particular, the idea that serious self-help efforts by developing countries are the most important element in development's success is based on Japan's own postwar experience and on the experience of the Asian countries that primarily Japan has supported in their development efforts.

The NDS proposes that specific goals for people-centered development be achieved by a set date. (Note 7)

The NDS was approved by the OECD Council of Ministers in May 1996, and welcomed by the Lyon G7 Summit in June of the same year. Japan has continued efforts since that time to put this approach into practice.

Japan is trying to deepen developing countries' understanding of the NDS through policy dialogue. For example, at this time, Tanzania is one of the countries on which Japan is focusing its efforts. Japan sent a high-level mission on economic cooperation to Tanzania in February 1997, to explain in detail the NDS approach to the Tanzanian government, and agreement was reached to apply the new approach there. While the mission was there, a donor meeting was held in Tanzania to strengthen ODA cooperation based on the NDS, and its basic approach was confirmed by other donors as their common strategy. Specific efforts have also begun in Ghana and Ethiopia based on this strategy.

As a result, the NDS is becoming the common strategy among donors, the World Bank, and other international development financial institutions. This strategy can become the basis for the integrated implementation of aid by the international community; it is necessary that this strategy should become more firmly entrenched as a common approach and progressively implemented, based on the resolutions of the 1997 OECD ministerial council and the Denver Summit.

The NDS explains the necessity of the following as approaches for development, in addition to aid coordination and South-South cooperation. (Note 8)

(1) Individual approach:

Because the main agent in development is the developing country, both the individual circumstances of each country and its development plans must be taken fully into consideration in carrying out development.

(2) Comprehensive approach:

To achieve development, government and private sector resources at every level must be brought into play. Developing countries, advanced nations, international organizations, private businesses, NGOs, etc., must be mobilized through a comprehensive approach.

(3) Balanced development:

Most of the difficulties faced by many developing countries stem from poverty, making it necessary to encourage economic development while striving simultaneously to relieve poverty. Allowances must be available to ensure that the profits generated by economic growth reach all people; to support developing countries' efforts in this direction, assistance in such fields of social development as health, medical care, and education is important. Furthermore, sustainable development and environmental protection are indispensable in order to improve the lives of all people, including future generations, and support for this must be given as well. Development must be sought while seeking to maintain a balance among these elements.

Our future task is to put the NDS into practice. To be more specific, it is necessary for Japan to demonstrate success in development based on the NDS in its priority countries such as Tanzania and Ghana.

The most important key to the NDS is respect for the developing countries' "ownership." Yet as there are some developing countries whose development still depends upon the support and initiative of donors, there are also those whose will and capability are not always up to the task of their own development. An important task that the NDS must tackle is to determine how these countries can be encouraged to willingly undertake this task and enabled to undertake development under their own power.

Chart 5 Trends in the Total Net Resource Flows to Developing Countries