Japan will double foreign aid
2005-04-22 11:55
Jakarta - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday pledged to double Japan's foreign aid to Africa to $1.6bn over the next three years at an Asia-Africa summit.
Speaking at the conference, which drew almost 50 heads of state including the presidents of South Africa and Nigeria, Koizumi said Japan would invest in African human resources, benefiting up to 10 000 people over four years.
"As we fortify the partnership between Asia and Africa, it will be critical to share our experience and our knowledge through dialogues between civilisation, between cultures and between individuals," Koizumi said.
The summit marked the golden jubilee of the first Asian-African conference held in the Indonesian city of Bandung in 1955, which gave birth to the Non-Aligned Movement.
The question of African development is to be discussed by leaders of the G8 - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States - at their summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in July. - AFP
- SAPA