promote wider regional cooperation encompassing Central Asia and the region to the south, improvement of the roads linking Tajikistan with Afghanistan has been supported. In Kyrgyz Republic too, technical cooperation to improve the ability for the country's road maintenance and management has commenced, while as a part of the social sector reconstruction support for areas such as health and medical care, improvements are being made to medical equipment for gynecology and obstetrics departments and hospitals in Uzbekistan.

Since 2004, dialogue and collaboration has been undertaken at all levels between Japan and the nations of Central Asia, under the framework of the “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue—established with the goal of promoting cooperation within the region. Based on its “Action Plan” adopted at the Second Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Tokyo 2006, Japan has supported promoting regional cooperation based on the five pillars of the framework. These pillars include political dialogue; cooperation on terrorist and drugs countermeasures, environmental protection, energy and water, transport, and trade and investment; business promotion; intellectual dialogue; and cultural and interpersonal exchanges that include sightseeing.

## The Caucasus Region

In the Caucasus, the common challenges shared by former Soviet States include human resources development to facilitate the transition from planned economies to market economies, rebuilding social sectors such as health and medical care, and infrastructure development for promoting economic development. Located on the coast of the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan are oil fields boasting world-class reserves, in which Japanese enterprises have been partially engaged in business. The oil being exported from these fields runs through a pipeline passing through this region. Therefore, the stable economic development in this region is important for stabilizing the international energy situation as well as Japan's energy security. In order to increase the region's income as well as to improve public services, Japan has supported the promotion of small and medium businesses, along with the health care and water sectors, by dispatching technical experts and holding trainings. In Armenia, an additional ODA loan was provided for a thermal power plant construction project to counter the increasing fuel costs for gas turbines. Japan has cooperated in establishing digital topographic maps in Georgia and in installing emergency medical equipment in Azerbaijan.

### 4. Africa (Sub-Sahara)

Japan’s bilateral assistance to the sub-Saharan African region in 2007 was approximately US$1,753 million, 29.1% of total bilateral ODA.

See Part II (page 14) for Japan’s efforts in the African region.

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Africa is a region in which issues such as poverty, food shortage and infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria continue to pose a serious threat to the human security. The international community as a whole is working hard to achieve its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but in this region in particular, the achievement is nearly in doubt. Urgent measures are required to combat the spread of infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, and to fight against high child and maternal mortality rates. In the African region, there is no shortage of countries facing issues like conflict, political instability, human rights, and democratization. For promotion of sustainable growth, further stability is vital, with improved social infrastructures, peace establishment through African countries' own efforts, progress in democratization, and good governance.

On the other hand, Africa’s forward-facing signs of growth can be positively seen, with its high annual economic growth of over 5% as well as advancing political stability. Also, there exist a large number of countries that benefit from abundant underground resources. In order to use these resources effectively and realize sustainable economic growth, it is also necessary to target the promotion of investment in private funding, through the improvement of economic infrastructure and enhancement of systems.

(Source: EPA=Jiji)