all aspects are considered an expression of positive evaluation of Japan's efforts to date to promote African development. Moreover, in the Summit Meeting of the Third Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) held in Okinawa in May 2003, the leaders of the participating countries expressed high praise for Japan's support until then.

Furthermore, President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, a country with a major influence in the Arab world, refers repeatedly to Japan's contributions since the 1970s, such as its cooperation in the expansion of the Suez Canal and expresses his appreciation for these efforts. Visiting Japan in 1998, then President of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin expressed in a joint declaration between Japan and China his gratitude for the economic cooperation Japan had provided to China until then. Furthermore, senior Chinese government leaders including President Hu Jintao have expressed their appreciation on a variety of occasions for the support and Japan's economic cooperation to date for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003. Other similar examples are too numerous to list individually. In addition, the high praise from foreign countries for Japan's assistance is not limited solely to that expressed by government leaders. Such opinion is also shared by the general public in developing countries.

## Ensuring Japan's security and prosperity and ODA

In these ways, Japan's ODA has been contributing significantly to the economic and social development of developing countries for 50 years. Based on the philosophy of providing support for self-help efforts, Japan's ODA has promoted development of the economic and social infrastructure and human resources that are key to nation building in developing countries. It has been useful in improving people's lives through promoting economic development, increasing income, reducing poverty, and providing support in fields such as health care and education in developing countries.

Group photograph of the countries' leaders at TICAD III

A peaceful and stable international environment is indispensable for Japan, which receives benefit from trade and investment with foreign countries and is dependent on them for natural resources and food. The assistance Japan has been providing for the past 50 years has not been simply addressing the problems of developing countries and achieving accomplishments in doing so. It has also been attaining significant accomplishments in creating the peaceful and stable international environment necessary for Japan. Using Japan's ODA to build a peaceful and stable international order and play a leading role in efforts to address the development problems of developing countries as well as global-scale issues contributes to the harmonious and mutually-beneficial development of the international community. It also enables Japan to win the deep trust of the international community and helps to ensure Japan's security and prosperity. The number of countries and regions to which Japan has been providing assistance has extended to 185, and the number of countries with which Japan has friendly relations has been steadily increasing due to the international contribution of ODA. This has not only the significance of increased friendly relations between states. It also plays a major role in forming the basis for friendships based on trust at grassroots level. In implementing ODA, many of the Japanese people involved go to the scene in developing countries, think hard about the issues together with the local people, and carry out programs jointly while sharing burdens. Japan's advanced technology and know-how is transferred, while at the same time friendship and mutual understanding is deepened with the people of the partner country through people-to-people exchange. Promoting such friendships also bears on strengthening Japan's position and influence in organizations such as the UN where developing countries form a majority. This in turn contributes to ensuring Japan's security and prosperity. For Japan, attaining great benefit from partnership and collaboration with the international community, it is necessary to continue to make the utmost efforts in the future, too, toward implementing assistance effectively, while carefully protecting the accomplishments attained by ODA to date.