Japan willing to contribute to ASEAN

Japan willing to contribute to ASEAN

NEW YORK: Japan's foreign minister said on Thursday that his
country was ready to chip in to a fund to help poorer Southeast
Asian nations, an official said.

"We will consider seriously what contribution we can make to
the ASEAN Development Fund," Japan's foreign minister Nobutaka
Machimura was quoted as telling counterparts from the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Machimura met with the ASEAN ministers on the sidelines of the
UN world summit. Japan is trying to deepen ties with Southeast
Asian nations as it rivals China for regional influence.

The ASEAN fund is aimed at financing programs to reduce the
development gap between established members -- the Philippines,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore -- and newer members:
Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. -- AFP