various reforms of the government, as well as provided active support for democratization and reconstruction. And when China carried out nuclear tests in 1995, Japan froze all types of Grant Aid, except emergency/humanitarian assistance and Grant Aid for Grassroots Projects, from August of the same year. $ ^{29} $ After India and Pakistan carried out nuclear tests in May 1998, Japan took economic measures consisting of suspension of new Yen loans and new Grant Aid, except emergency/humanitarian assistance and Grant Aid for Grassroots Projects. $ ^{30} $

Strengthening Sector-Specific Assistance Policy

In addition to region/country-specific assistance policies, Japan also strengthened responses in sector-specific assistance policies through announcement and promotion of various sector-specific initiatives. In the 1990s, such global issues as the environment, population growth and infectious diseases attracted attention through the international conferences led mainly by the United Nations. Japan made clear its intention to work actively on such new issues by making use of ODA.

As for environmental issues, Japan has regarded them as problems for all mankind. The ODA Charter adopted by the Cabinet in 1992 listed the "approach to the global problems

Chart I - 18 List of Sector-Specific Initiatives

Sector-specific initiative	Related international conference
Basic education	●Basic Education for Growth Initiative (BEGIN) (2002)●Support in Education Sector to Low-Income Countries (2002)	●Kananaskis G8 Summit●Kananaskis G8 Summit
Health care/ infectious diseases	●Global Issues Initiative on Population (GII) and AIDS (1994)●Global Parasite Control Initiative (Hashimoto Initiative) (1998)●Okinawa Infectious Diseases Initiative (IDI) (2000)	●International Conference on Population and Development●Birmingham G8 Summit●Kyushu-Okinawa G8 Summit
Environmental conservation	●Initiatives for Sustainable Development toward the 21st Century (ISD) (1997)●Assistance to Developing Countries for Combating Global Warming (Kyoto Initiative) (1997)●Environmental Conservation Initiative for Sustainable Development (EcoSD) (2002)	●United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Environment and Development●Third Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Kyoto Conference)●World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
Water	●United States-Japan partnership to Provide Safe Water and Sanitation to the World's Poor "Clean Water for People" Initiative (2002)●Initiative for Japan's ODA on Water (2003)●Japan-France Water Sector Cooperation (2003)	●World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)●Third World Water Forum●Third World Water Forum
Support for democratization	●Partnership for Democratic Development (PDD) (1996)	●Lyon G8 Summit
Conflict and development	●Action from Japan on Conflict and Development (2000)	●G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Miyazaki
IT	●Comprehensive Co-operation Package to Address the International Digital Divide (2000)	●Kyushu-Okinawa G8 Summit
WID/gender	●Women in Development (WID) Initiative (1995)	●Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing Conference)
Sustainable development	●Koizumi Initiative: Concrete Actions of the Japanese Government to be taken for sustainable development - Toward Global Sharing (2002)	●World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)