Japan must boost ODA efficiency with more strategic aid: expert panel+

TOKYO, Feb. 9 Kyodo -
Japan must improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its foreign assistance
projects, including by simplifying procedures, to raise its diplomatic clout
and competitiveness as a donor, an expert panel said Monday in a report on
Japan's official development assistance policy.
The report, which wrapped up the panel's two-year-long discussions, also urged
Japan to allocate its ODA more ''strategically,'' such as by focusing on Africa
and expanding low-interest loans in response to aid recipients' needs as other
key donors hit by the financial crisis cut back their contributions.
The report was submitted as the panel's final memorandum to Foreign Minister
Hirofumi Nakasone at its last meeting on Monday evening.
The 14-member panel, headed by Takushoku University President Toshio Watanabe,
criticized the lack of in-depth and strategic discussions at the Overseas
Economic Cooperation Council and stressed that more efforts must be made to
improve transparency by disclosing the contents of the council's meetings to
the public.
The council, headed by the prime minister and comprising of four other key
Cabinet ministers involved in ODA decisions, has held 19 meetings since it was
launched in May 2006.
But the prime minister only attended 11 of them and the average time of each
meeting became shorter and shorter, the panel pointed out.
On assistance for African development, the panel said, ''Japan's leadership in
steadfastly implementing measures drawn up at (last year's) Tokyo International
Conference on African Development will help raise Japan's global presence, as
European and U.S. economies are suffering from the blow of the financial
crisis.''
Meanwhile, the experts also warned that the government must pay attention to
China's recent announcement of plans to expand its aid to Africa.
China's rapidly growing influence in Africa has caused anxiety in Japan, which
tumbled to fifth place among major donors in 2007 for the first time since
1972.
Japan had proudly been the world's biggest donor in the early 1990s but the
size of its ODA fell by 38 percent between 1997 and 2007 amid tight state
finances.
The expert panel, composed of seven academic experts, two commentators, three
business representatives and two members of nongovernmental organizations, was
launched in March 2007.
It submitted an interim report in January last year, followed by an emergency
appeal in April cautioning against Japan's continued cuts in ODA budgets.
==Kyodo
2009-02-09 20:51:02