TOKYO - Answering a U.N. appeal for African aid, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi outlined Japan's priorities for next week's Group of Eight summit on Thursday and capped it with a pledge of billions of dollars in education money.
Koizumi said Japan would push for back-to-basics "human-centered development" when leaders of the world's richest nations gather in Canada for groundbreaking discussions on ways to better integrate Africa into the world economy.
The essential first focus should be access to basic health care, education, food and safe water, Koizumi said during an evening reception for African diplomats in Tokyo.
As part of Japan's contribution, Koizumi pledged 250 billion yen (dlrs 2 billion) in education aid to the region over the next five years.
The announcement comes just days after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged leaders of the world's major industrialized nations — the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia — to make firm pledges of action and money at their summit next week in Kananaskis, Canada.
The agenda for the June 26-27 summit is groundbreaking because the leaders will spend an entire day focusing on one region for the first time: Africa.
"The most important item on the agenda is Africa," Koizumi said. "There will be no stability and prosperity in the international community in the 21st century unless the problems in Africa are resolved."
Underlining that sentiment, five African leaders and the U.N. secretary-general have been invited — the first time the exclusive G-8 club has opened its annual meeting.
Japan is the biggest national donor to the continent, and was the biggest single international aid donor to all countries for more than a decade.
But national pride was bruised last year, when Japan became the number two overall donor behind the United States. Officials blamed the slipping status on a weak yen, which diminished the total aid amount in dollar terms.
Japan has since pledged to focus more on aid quality, rather than quantity.
Koizumi said Thursday that other aid priorities should be eliminating duties and quotas that block African exports and stifle economic development. He stressed that aid should also be linked to governing practices that foster greater accountability.
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