community. Furthermore, as a nation whose prosperity is closely linked to world peace and stability and that is highly dependent on the importation of resources, energy, food, and other basic materials, ODA plays a very significant role in ensuring Japan’s own stability and prosperity. As such, economic assistance promotes Japan’s best interests, including the maintenance of peace.

Japan is experiencing fiscal and economic difficulties and there have been major changes in the domestic and international environment for aid. It is necessary to further consider, in a more integrated manner, how to implement ODA in light of these factors. Under such circumstances, it is important to earn public understanding and support for the ODA program in order to continue to respond to the high expectations of the international community. To achieve this understanding and support, assistance must be adequately implemented in accordance with the basic philosophy and principles spelled out in the Official Development Assistance Charter (ODA Charter) $ ^{1} $ and efforts must be continued to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of aid programs. Moreover, proper accountability must be established vis-à-vis the Diet and the general public, and Japan’s ODA program must be coordinated with its foreign policies and with other important policies pertaining to the national interest.

While Japan’s ODA program has generally received high marks, it is a fact that the original objectives of ODA projects are not always met and that certain improvements are necessary. This is attributable, in part, to the inherent difficulty of undertaking ODA while working jointly with countries with vastly differing histories, cultures, customs, laws, and linguistic backgrounds.

In view of the above, the Government of Japan herein sets down its basic approaches in regard to ODA, and identifies overall priority issues and sectors as well as those by region. Undertaken with a five-year time frame in mind, this medium-term policy will be subject to review and modification in response to changing domestic and international conditions.

### I. BASIC APPROACHES

1. In 1996, the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued its “Development Partnership Strategy” in “Shaping the 21st Century: The Contribution of Development Cooperation.” The guidelines for future development cooperation were based on the analysis of 50 years of development cooperation by industrial countries and on the role of assistance in the international community. This document identifies the improvement of living standards as the main objective of development cooperation and formulates specific goals for social development, such as halving the proportion of impoverished populations by the year 2015. $ ^{2} $ Japan played a leading role in the preparation of the Development Partnership Strategy and continues its efforts to set such an approach in motion in the international community. As a result, the Development Partnership Strategy is now becoming a common guideline for development cooperation with developing countries. Japan will continue to manage its ODA in a manner consistent with its ODA Charter and with an eye to the goals of the Development Partnership Strategy.

2. The key to realizing the goals of the Development Partnership Strategy lies in the self-help efforts and the initiatives of developing