The Foreign Ministry is considering buying products of earthquake-affected areas with the government's official development assistance budget and offering them to developing countries.
The Foreign Ministry is considering buying products of earthquake-affected areas with the government's official development assistance budget and offering them to developing countries.
The plan will enable the ministry to use the ODA budget, which is in principle for developing countries, to assist developing nations and also give a boost to recovery in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
According to the government's plan on allocation of the ODA budget for this fiscal year, the ministry is considering buying processed products, including canned fishery products, of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures and use them as assistance goods for developing countries.
The ministry is also considering giving priority to quake-affected areas when it allocates foreign trainees, who come to Japan to learn agricultural and fishery techniques, to various parts of the country.
The ministry hopes its new ODA budget plan will prevent the spread of false rumors that products from northern Japan could pose health problems because of higher-than-normal levels of radiation.
Meanwhile, the ministry also plans to use the ODA budget for the promotion of Japanese high-level quake-resistance technologies overseas.
The ministry, for example, plans to publicize the fact that when the powerful March 11 earthquake took place, all bullet trains running on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line made emergency stops safely without any derailments.
The ministry also plans to use the ODA budget for improving legal systems and nurturing human resources in foreign countries.
The ministry is also putting importance on securing natural resources. It intends to increase the ODA budget for the Middle East region, a main supplier of natural resources to Japan, by about 10 billion yen ($125 million) from last fiscal year to 159.4 billion yen this fiscal year.
The total ODA budget for this fiscal year has been cut by about 50.1 billion yen, or 10 percent, to free up funds for a larger budget for recovery efforts in the quake-affected areas.