Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper 2010
2. The Philosophy of Development Cooperation
The ”ODA Review” adopts as its philosophy, ”Enhancing enlightened national interest — Living in harmony with the world and promoting peace and prosperity”. This philosophy is based on the following views.
First, the peace and prosperity of Japan are made possible by global peace and prosperity. With this recognition, Japan will continue to actively contribute to solving the global challenges, thereby creating a better international environment for Japan.
Second, in this globalized world with fewer barriers between national borders, assistance to developing countries is not an ”act of charity” from developed countries to developing countries but a ”tool” for the world community, including Japan, to pursue common interests.
To address the new challenges facing the international community and to carry out this philosophy, Japan needs to undertake development cooperation by taking an ”all Japan” approach, which draws on the pool of public-private human resources, expertise, financial resources, and technologies, in addition to ODA.