Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper 2007
Next PageMain Text > Part II ODA RECORD FOR FY2006 > Chapter 2 Details about Japan's Official Development Assistance > Section 3. Assistance for Each Regio > 7. Oceania
7. Oceania
< Record for FY2006 >
Japan's bilateral assistance to Oceania (the Pacific Island Countries) in 2006 was approximately US$76.19 million, 1.0% of total bilateral ODA.
< Features of Oceania >
Japan and Oceania, which share the Pacific Ocean, have strong historical ties and maintain friendly relations. Countries in this region have an immense Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The region provides an important fishing ground for Japan's deep-sea fisheries industry, as well as strategic stops for maritime transportation. As such, peace and prosperity in this region are extremely important for Japan.
Many Pacific Island countries have achieved independence relatively recently and the priority issues are to establish socially and economically self-reliant states. In addition, these countries face a number of common difficulties peculiar to island nations, such as small-scale economies, dependence on primary industries, geographic dispersion, lack of access to international markets, vulnerability to natural disasters, the risk of losing land territory. Furthermore, the region faces many problems deriving from conflict between ethnic groups and tribes, such as political disruption in Fiji and political instability in the Solomon Islands, and problems relating to democratization, such as riots in Tonga. Based on such circumstances, and as a friendly partner in the Pacific region, Japan provides assistance while taking into account the individual situation of each country.
< Japan's Efforts >
To achieve political stability and autonomous economic development in Oceania, it is essential to overcome social and economic weaknesses and pursue regional cooperation. Japan has been promoting cooperation with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), a framework for regional cooperation composed of the leaders of the Oceania countries. The Japan-Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Summit Meeting, a leaders' meeting of Japan and the PIF countries, was held total of four times, once in every three years since 1997.
In May 2006, the 4th Japan-PIF Summit Meeting was held in Okinawa, which shares common characteristics with the island countries of the Pacific such as climate and oceanic environment. This summit adopted the Okinawa Partnership, the framework for new cooperation between Japan and PIF based on two pillars: the Pacific Plan, which is the guideline of PIF self-help efforts and intra-regional cooperation, and Japan's assistance policies for backing these self-help efforts. Assistance by Japan is based on five priority policy objectives, namely; economic growth; sustainable development; good governance; security; and exchange between people. As the immediate goal, Japan will assist the self-help efforts of the island countries of Oceania primarily through provision of a total of ¥45 billion over a three-year period beginning in 2006. Japan is also placing emphasis on cooperation for disaster prevention and dealing with climate change.
< Assistance to the Various Countries and Regions >
Based on the five priority policy objectives announced by Japan at the 4th Japan-PIF Summit Meeting, Japan is providing assistance giving consideration to the national development plans of each country, to demand, and to circumstances related to their stage of development. For example, the Solomon Islands have long experienced turmoil in domestic politics, but because public order has improved markedly in recent years, Japan resumed the dispatch of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV)25 from 2005 and has supported national reconstruction of the Solomon Islands through infrastructure development. In response to damage caused by an earthquake and tsunami in the northwestern district in April 2007, Japan provided emergency assistance resources and extended emergency grant aid through UNICEF and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Japan also performed a study for future reconstruction assistance through JICA and has continued to provide assistance linked to the stage of reconstruction, including its decision to provide assistance for rebuilding a damaged hospital through grant aid and the dispatch of JOCV. In Papua New Guinea, which is a mountainous, multi-ethnic country, Japan provided assistance for improving the quality of lessons given in primary schools and middle schools in remote locations through a class lesson improvement project by television programs, thereby helping to correct disparities in the quality of education received in cities and in regions.
< Region-wide Assistance >
While Japan provides assistance tailored to each country, the island countries of Oceania face common development problems in the environmental and health care sectors. In order to achieve the sustainable development of these island countries of Oceania, not only must cooperation be extended to individual countries, but regional cooperation encompassing the entire Oceania region, taking into account region-wide benefits, must also be provided. Regional cooperation for Oceania is being expanded in fields including distance learning, waste disposal measures, and measures against infectious disease. In the area of distance learning, opportunities for the people of island countries to receive high-school education are being expanded through assistance for developing distance learning network facilities linked to the University of the South Pacific (USP) based in Fiji. Waste disposal measures have included assistance to the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP), a regional international agency in Samoa, for the construction of the SPREP Training and Education Center through grand aid. Japan has also dispatched experts to SPREP and provided training in waste countermeasures, and has assisted in the preparation of a waste countermeasures master plan. Through this assistance, Japan has contributed to solving the region's environmental problems. In measures against infectious disease, Japan has extended cooperation together with the World Health Organization and UNICEF in implementing the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) focused on safe inoculations, including provision of vaccines, maintenance of cold chains, and safe disposal of medical waste in order to strengthen immunization programs in the region. Japan has also provided assistance aimed at improving the rate of immunization against measles and Type-B hepatitis, eradicating filaria, and HIV/AIDS prevention. In addition to assistance in these fields, Japan is considering regional cooperation for disaster prevention measures in regions of Oceania that experience significant damage from disasters and plans to give concrete form to this cooperation based on an assistance demand study conducted by JICA.
Chart II-40. Japan's Assistance in the Oceania
