| Part I. | THE REVISION OF THE “ODA CHARTER” AND JAPAN’S NEW APPROACH |
Chapter 2
Section 1
Following the original ODA Charter, the revised ODA Charter also
makes Asia the priority region. The reasons for this are given as follows: (1)
The countries of the Asian region not only have a close historical relationship
to Japan as neighboring countries, but they also have a close political, economic
and cultural relationship with Japan, for example, they are important in terms
of political geography and security, and economic interdependence between Japan
and these countries has been rapidly getting stronger in recent years; (2) the
Asian region has achieved the most remarkable growth in the world and developing
and maintaining the economy of the region is important for the development of
the world economy; (3) the Asian region, in particular South Asia, continues
to have the largest population of impoverished people in the world. However,
although it has positioned Asia as its priority region, Japan will strategically
prioritize assistance to Asian countries, fully taking into account the diversity
of the Asian countries’ socio-economic conditions and changes in their
respective assistance needs and will not provide unconditional assistance to
Asia.
And making Asia the priority area does not necessarily mean that Japan considers
ODA to other regions to be unimportant. For example, there are a large number
of LDCs concentrated in Africa, the continent is faced with serious issues such
as conflicts and HIV/AIDS, and it is the region in which poverty is spreading
the fastest. Japan has been promoting the TICAD process over the ten years since
1993, has consistently appealed to the international community about the importance
of tackling African issues, and has held TICAD III at the end of September 2003.
This is evidence of the fact that Japan’s economic assistance is not all
directed to Asia. The revised ODA Charter also discusses assistance for the
Middle East, Latin America and Oceania in addition.
Approximately 30% of Japan’s bilateral ODA is provided to
the ASEAN countries and approximately 60% of the bilateral ODA that the ASEAN
countries receive is from Japan. Concerning ASEAN and the other countries of
the East Asia region, in recent years, economic interdependence has expanded
and deepened and efforts have been made to increase the competitiveness of the
region through the strengthening of integration. Japan is working to utilize
ODA to strengthen relations and to reduce regional disparities while sufficiently
taking into account issues such as the strengthening of economic partnership
with the region.
The Japan-ASEAN Commemorative Summit held in Tokyo on December 11 and December
12, 2003 was the first ASEAN summit meeting held outside the ASEAN region and
was a historically significant summit meeting that showed the maturity of Japan-ASEAN
relations to people at home and abroad. At the summit, Japan announced that
it would continue giving priority to the ASEAN countries in its ODA projects,
declared three priority areas for Japan-ASEAN cooperation (cooperation for reinforcing
integration of ASEAN, cooperation for enhancing economic competitiveness of
ASEAN countries including investment promotion, cooperation for addressing terrorism,
piracy and other transnational issues) and announced that it would utilize ODA
and a variety of other schemes to promote human resources development in seven
priority issues (policy-making and public administration, industry and energy,
education, global issues, community empowerment, minimizing regional disparities,
and information and information and communications technology) as a prerequisite
for making progress in the three priority fields. The scale of assistance is
expected to exceed $1.5 billion over the next three years; furthermore, human
exchange programs involving approximately 40,000 people are scheduled for the
same period.
ASEAN now has ten members with the accession of four countries whose development
is relatively lagging behind (Viet Nam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997, Cambodia
in 1999), and reducing the economic disparities between the member countries
has surfaced as a major issue. For this reason, further promotion of the IAI,
an initiative to promote the integration of the new member states into ASEAN,
has been confirmed and further promotion of regional cooperation (promotion
of the Mekong Region Development and active measures toward revitalization of
the Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines – East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA))
was discussed. Japan announced that it would expand the dimensions of its cooperation
for the Mekong Region Development through an integrated approach of economic
cooperation and trade-investment facilitation measures and that it expected
to provide cooperation of approximately $1.5 billion over the next three years.
Among the ASEAN countries, there are already countries that no longer need ODA
according to the OECD-DAC definition (Singapore, Brunei) and some countries
with relatively advanced economic development (Thailand, Malaysia) and so, the
ASEAN countries have accumulated a variety of experiences and knowledge concerning
economic development. For this reason, agreements have been made to actively
advance South-South Cooperation both within and outside the ASEAN region based
on those experiences. For example, in addition to the Japan-Singapore Partnership
Program (JSPP), the Japan-Thailand Partnership Program 2 and the Japan-Indonesia
Partnership Program have been concluded.
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Box 6. Mekong Region Development
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The “Mekong Region Development” is an attempt
at region-wide development crossing national borders that targets five
countries and one area located in the Mekong river basin, namely Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China’s Yunnan Province. Promotion
of the Mekong Region Development will not only strengthen relations
between the countries of the region, but also create a more favorable
environment for reducing the disparities within the ASEAN region by
raising the economic levels of the new ASEAN members located in this
region, and for strengthening ASEAN integration, etc.
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| Column 8 | Support for China’s Anti-SARS Measures | ||||
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The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) hit China in the first half of 2003. It was a serious challenge not only to the economy and society of China but also to the newly inaugurated administration of President Hu Jintao. It was a serious threat to Japan too as it could have had a major and direct impact on the health of the Japanese people, including the large number of Japanese nationals living in China, and on Japan-China economic relations.
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China is undergoing an enormous transformation as a result of the implementation of its reform and openness policy. When thinking about Japan’s policy for economic cooperation with China, it is necessary to take into account changes in China’s assistance needs resulting from its economic development and the critical view of ODA to China held by the public in Japan. The Government of Japan has carried out a wide-ranging review of ODA to China based on the Economic Cooperation Program for China formulated in October 2001.
Specifically, Japan has concluded that in particular China itself builds up economic infrastructure in the eastern coastal regions, which had been a priority field for cooperation. Japan also has narrowed the priority fields down to environmental conservation, human resources development, poverty reduction, cooperation utilizing the outstanding technology and expertise of Japan and so on, and is making efforts to ensure that Japan’s ODA to China contributes to the promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and China.
With regard to yen loans, which make up the majority of Japan’s assistance to China, the conventional multi-year pledging of yen loans was reviewed in fiscal year 2001. Now, the Government of Japan examines each project closely from the national interest point of view every year and decides the total amount to be provided, irrespective of former disbursement amounts, with the focus on projects that support the development efforts of China itself and are beneficial for both Japan and China.
As a result of this review, the total value of yen loans to China reached ¥121.214
billion (Exchange of Notes basis) in fiscal year 2002. This represented a decrease
from the previous fiscal year of about 25% and a decrease over the previous
two years of about 43%. Projects in the environment field received about 70%
of the funds provided and Japan also provided support for human resources development
projects to promote mutual understanding between Japan and China. The Government
of Japan intends to comprehensively assess socioeconomic conditions in China
and the state of Japan-China bilateral relations and to appropriately implement
ODA to China based on the principles in the revised ODA Charter and the Economic
Cooperation Program for China.
Africa, with the highest percentage of people living in poverty, is facing many difficulties such as conflicts, famine, infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, accumulated debt, and so on. Due to these serious development issues, the disparity between Africa and other regions is growing and the concerns that Africa would be left behind from the advance of globalization are increasing.
Japan realized the seriousness of these African issues and in the early 1990s started to take the initiative in development cooperation for Africa in the international community. As the interest of the international community in Africa declined following the end of the Cold War, Japan, in order to restore that interest of international community, organized the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in 1993 and the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II) in 1998. Through the TICAD process, Japan advocated the importance of self-help efforts (ownership) by the African countries and partnership with the international community to support them.
These efforts of Japan have contributed to the increase in interest of African issues in the international community in recent years: the UN has strengthened its efforts to promote African development since the establishment of the MDGs. And concrete cooperation with Africa is expanding in G8 summits too. For example, the presidents of South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria were invited to the Kyushu Okinawa G8 Summit chaired by Japan in 2000. The African leaders held dialogues with the G8 leaders and as a result, African issues were high on the agenda at the summit. And at the Kananaskis G8 Summit in 2002, concrete cooperation was also expanded. For example, the “G8 Africa Action Plan” was adopted. In addition, Africa itself is aware of the importance of ownership and has commenced concrete measures such as the establishment of NEPAD and the African Union (AU). Current African issues are issues that the entire international community really must respond to in a united fashion.
In this context that Japan held the Third Tokyo International Conference on
African Development (TICAD III) in Tokyo from September 29 to October 1, 2003,
in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the TICAD process. There
were more than 1,000 participants from 89 countries and 47 organizations, including
23 heads of state and governments of African countries, the heads of more than
20 international organizations and approximately 90 ministerial-level participants.
It thus became the largest policy fora on African development in the world.
At the conference, the “TICAD Tenth Anniversary Declaration” outlining
the future direction of African development and priority approaches was adopted
and the “Summary by the Chair of TICAD III” summarizing the priority
areas identified through the discussion of the conference was released. Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced, in his keynote speech at the opening session,
“Japan’s initiative for assistance to Africa” based on the three
pillars of “human-centered development,” “poverty reduction through
economic growth,” and “consolidation of peace” and announced
that $1 billion grant aid assistance to be extended over the next five years
in areas such as health and medical care including measures against HIV/AIDS,
education, water supply, and food assistance. The Prime Minister also clearly
stated that Japan would place importance on the perspective of “human security”
and “South-South Cooperation” in its assistance for Africa. The African
participants highly praised the contribution of the TICAD process over the last
ten years and called for continuation of the process. Thus, TICAD III built
a consensus that the TICAD process should continue in a more institutionalized
manner in future.
