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