Japanese govt to provide more aid to Indonesia
Japanese govt to provide more aid to Indonesia
TOKYO (Agencies): Japan plans to announce further financial
aid to Indonesia and will send a mission to the country next
week, vice finance minister Eisuke Sakakibara said yesterday.
"I think there is more scope for Japan to make a progressive
financial commitment," he told a news conference.
Sakakibara, vice minister for international affairs said the
mission, comprising officials from the ministries of finance,
foreign affairs and trade, would leave Wednesday and stay seven-
to-10 days.
The three ministries planned to announce a new assistance
package for Indonesia after their return, he said.
Sakakibara's predecessor Tadao Chino, who will lead the
mission, said the Japanese team hoped to meet President Soeharto
and other Indonesian leaders to exchange views on its economy and
financial sector.
The mission will also visit Singapore and Malaysia, to discuss
coordinating a possible extension of financial assistance to
Indonesia, Chino said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and his Singapore
counterpart Goh Chok Tong agreed in a telephone conversation
yesterday to cooperate on Indonesia's financial problems, Japan's
Jiji news agency reported.
Hashimoto and Goh agreed on the cooperation .
Separately, officials said the ruling Liberal Democratic Party
will send a delegation to Southeast Asia for a week starting
Sunday.
The LDP group will be headed by former foreign minister Taro
Nakayama and will meet political leaders in Singapore, Thailand,
Indonesia and Hong Kong, Nakayama's office said.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported the LDP delegation's trip
was aimed at enabling the party to form a regional economic
stabilization plan.
In a related development, Japan's Foreign Ministry said
yesterday it was unaware of any request by Indonesia for 500,000
to 600,000 tons of rice to help it cope with its food crisis.
The Japan Agriculture News reported yesterday that Indonesia
had asked Japan's Foreign Ministry to send stockpiled rice held
by government as aid through an unofficial route.
"We have not heard any such request yet," an official of
Japan's Foreign Ministry said.
The report said the Japanese government was expected to give
serious consideration to the request.
Indonesia, which is embroiled in its deep economic crisis,
said earlier this year that it would boost its short-term rice
imports to 2.0 million tons from 1.5 million tons, partly because
of delays in planting due to drought.
Rice stocks in Japan at the end of October were estimated at
3.7 million tons, far above the necessary stock levels of 2.0
million tons, according the Agriculture Ministry.