မဲေခါင္ေဒသ အား ဂ်ပန္ေထာက္ပံ့

Koumura announces Japanese aid to 5 Mekong nations

Japan has pledged to offer a total of 40 million US dollars in aid to 5 countries in the Mekong River region.

Japan's Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura announced this in a statement on Wednesday at the 1st foreign ministerial meeting between Japan and the 5 countries - Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar -- held in Tokyo.

The statement designates 2009 as the year of exchanges between Japan and the Mekong region, with a plan to invite 10,000 young people from the region to Japan over the next 5 years.

The promised money will be used to support poverty-stricken areas in a region straddling Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and for road construction projects.

NHK's political reporter says the Japanese government has held the foreign ministerial meeting with a sense of alarm over China's natural resources diplomacy in the Mekong region that abounds in oil, natural gas and bauxite, from which aluminum is made.

Japan aims to maintain its influence in the region to counter China's natural resources diplomacy by increasing its official development assistance to the region at a time when it has been cutting its aid as a whole. (http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/index.html)

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