A Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer giving advice on how to operate a PC (Papua New Guinea) (Source: JICA)

encourage the introduction of common curriculums for information education that may lead to ethnic reconciliation. $ ^{9} $ As well, Japan provided ICT research, education, and training facilities and equipment for the University of the South Pacific headquartered in Fiji.

## (5) Facilitating Trade and Investment

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As the private sector takes a leading role for sustainable economic growth, it is important to promote and stimulate trade and investment. Therefore, the governments of developing countries need to carry out a vast number of policy measures in order to develop an investment climate to attract the private sector. In many cases, developing countries have difficulty resolving these issues by themselves. Therefore, assistance with bilateral and multilateral frameworks is necessary.

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Japan’s assistance includes infrastructure development, institution building, and human resource development though such means as official development assistance and Other Official Flows (OOF). Along with foreign direct investment, trade has great importance to developing countries for growth. In order for developing countries to improve their access to the markets of developed countries, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which adopts lower tariff rates than general rates for their exports, has been playing an important role. The international community stresses the importance of improving the export capacity and competitiveness of developing countries through this system. Particularly, for the Least Developed Countries (LDC), various measures have been taken to enhance trade/investment and market access.

## Cooperation to Strengthen the Multilateral Trading System

In the World Trade Organization (WTO), the international organization that works to maintain and strengthen the multilateral trading system, roughly four-fifths of the more than 150 WTO members is accounted as developing countries. Not only Japan that depends on trade for its economic activities, but developing countries also have dramatically increasing potentials for economic growth through globalized trade and investment. The WTO Doha Round Negotiations (The Doha Development Agenda) which started in 2001 emphasize the promotion of development in developing countries through their participation in the multilateral trading system.

In FY2007, Japan has extended approximately ¥50 million to the trust fund set up within the WTO in support of capacity development for developing countries in order to implement the WTO agreements and to participate in negotiations. In addition, Japan has taken part in the Integrated Framework (IF), which is a framework for trade-related technical assistance for least developed countries (LDCs) led by six international organizations including the WTO. Furthermore, mainly in the interest of supporting the private sector in developing countries, Japan donated an additional ¥8 million approximately to the trust fund of the International Trade Centre (ITC) in FY2007.

## Development Initiatives for Trade

Currently, the notion of Aid for Trade (AFT) is being actively discussed through various international forums such as the WTO, World Bank, and OECD. Japan announced the “Development Initiative for Trade” in 2005, with a view to promoting trade, thus contributing to developing countries. Accordingly, Japan has carried out comprehensive and tailored assistance by combining various tools including ODA and other measures to improve market access for LDC products in each stage of trade—“to produce,” “to sell,” and “to buy.” Such assistance includes, for example, the expanded provision of Duty-Free and Quota-Free market access for LDCs, as well as support for the One Village One Product Initiative. Regarding Madagascar, Kenya and Zambia, where Japan dispatched the high level mission on the Development Initiative for Trade in 2007,