Japan’s ODA White Paper highlights ties with ASEAN
Japan’s White Paper on the Official Development Assistance (ODA) 2014 released on March 13 highlighted the importance of the country’s cooperation with ASEAN to ensure the national security, according to Kyodo News.
Japan’s White Paper on the Official Development Assistance (ODA) 2014released on March 13 highlighted the importance of the country’scooperation with ASEAN to ensure the national security, according toKyodo News.
Accordingly, the Japanese Governmentcontinues to affirm ASEAN as an "extremely important market and placefor investment for Japan" and notes that the distribution network forgoods "underpinning the Japanese economy runs through the ASEAN region."
The paper also states that "Achieving growth andstability in ASEAN has a great significance as well to Japan's securitywhen thinking about how the distribution network for goods underpinningthe Japanese economy runs through the region."
In itsWhite Paper 2013 released in February 2014, Japan called on ODAreinforcement for Asia and Africa, stressing that supporting the ASEANstate members is an effective investment in the future which benefitsboth sides.
In 2013, Japanese ODA stood at 22.53 billion USD, up 20.7 percent from a year ago, only ranking behind the US.
With a combined population of over 600 million residents, ASEAN is among key recipients of Japan’s ODA every year.-VNA
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