Japan to send special mission to evaluate economic recovery

Japan to send special mission to evaluate economic recovery

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

SINGAPORE (JP): Japan will send a special mission to six Asian
countries, including Indonesia, next month to gauge how it can
further assist Asia's economic recovery and extend cooperation in
human resources development and legal institution building.

Dubbed the Mission for Revitalization of Asian Economy, it
will be headed by Japan Federation of Employers Association
chairman Okuda.

The mission will visit Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia,
the Philippines and Vietnam between late August and early
September.

Japan's Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura said here on Tuesday
the mission would help his government better understand the best
approaches to be taken to ensure fundamental recovery and
sustained development in the region.

"The Okuda Mission will bear the important responsibility of
preparing recommendations for Asian economic recovery in the 21st
century," said Koumura, who is on the island state as part of a
series of dialog meetings with the Association of Southeast
Asians (ASEAN).

These recommendations will then be submitted to Japanese Prime
Minister Obuchi so that in addition to providing financial
assistance, Japan can extend cooperation efforts in human
resource development and legal institution building.

The region was swept by a devastating financial crisis in mid-
1997 which saw the region's economic tigers enfeebled.

Japan has been one of the main sponsors in the region's
economic recovery, pledging some US$80 billion in aid to help
revitalize these countries.

According to Koumura, apart from the six countries mentioned,
Tokyo would also send missions to other countries.

A joint project in the works is aimed at the socially
vulnerable.

"Japan and the United States are preparing to promote joint
projects to assist young children in the Philippines and
Indonesia," he said without elaborating.

Yen recovery

Koumura also assured his Southeast Asian neighbors during the
meeting that Japan was taking every possible step to recover its
own economy, which would in turn help propel the region as a
whole.

"Let me state clearly that Japan fully understands the extreme
importance Japan's economic recovery has for the recovery of the
Asian economies," he said pointing to measures to stabilize its
own financial system and stimulate demand.

He added that Tokyo was determined to register positive growth
in the 1999 fiscal year.

Focusing on possible deterrents of a recurrence of the
financial collapse in the region, Koumura stressed the need to
strengthen the international financial system to reduce sudden
flows of capital which helped spark the crisis.

Reducing global dependence on the dollar was another important
step for the future, he claimed.

"Given that one of the causes of the currency crisis was
excessive dependence on the dollar, Japan is focussing its
efforts on further institutionalization of the yen," Koumura
explained.