Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has provided investment financing, investment guarantees and untied loans for investment. The Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) has also offered overseas investment insurance and overseas project loan insurance services.

Regarding trade, there is the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is a multilateral institution. Developing countries account for some three quarters of the WTO members that numbered 147 as of July 2004. The members, who widely vary in economic power and human resources quality, are striving to promote free trade and pursue profit on trade in compliance with the international rules set up in the WTO agreements.

The new round of trade liberalization negotiations, which was launched at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha in 2001, and is known as the "Doha Development Agenda," emphasized development through the participation of developing members in multilateral trade arrangements. In response to requests from developing countries, Japan has striven to improve market access for LDC (least developed country) products and provide trade-related technical assistance and capacity building (TRTA/CB) for improvement of developing countries' capacity to implement the WTO rules and participate in negotiations.

Regarding improvement of market access for developing country products, for example, Japan has implemented the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) since 1971 to impose lower-than-usual tariff rates (General Preferential Tariff (GPT) rates) on certain agriculture, fishery and industrial products imported from developing countries, and also provided certain LDC products for duty-free and quota-free treatment. There has been growing momentum, at the recent international conferences such as the third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in 2001, to request developed countries to expand more duty-free and quota-free coverage for LDCs. Under the circumstances, since April 1, 2003, Japan has added not only roughly 120 products to GPT coverage for non-LDC developing countries, but also about 200 agricultural and fishery products, including shrimp and fish fillets that Japan imports in large quantities from LDCs, to duty-free and quota-free coverage for LDCs. Japan had already imported almost all of the LDC industrial products zunder the duty-free and quota-free treatment; as a result, 93% of import value from LDCs are now duty-free and quota-free. At the same time, Japan's total import value from LDCs increased by 25% from fiscal year 2002 to 2003. Japan thus makes great contributions to expanding trade opportunities for developing countries.

In respect to the TRTA/CB, Japan and the WTO Secretariat cosponsored seminars in Kenya and at the secretariat in Geneva in May and June 2003 for African countries to deepen their understanding of the importance of investment rules. In addition, Japan has implemented more than 1,000 TRTA/CB programs annually for marketing, small and medium enterprise assistance and other areas that contribute to expanding trade. These achievements are available through the WTO/OECD TRTA/CB database. Through these seminars, Japan has promoted developing countries' participation in the multilateral trade arrangements and contributed to furthering their economic independence and expanding world trade.

The Cancun WTO Ministerial Conference in September 2003, which had been seen as a key halfway point of the Doha Round, failed to achieve what was expected of it as a result of the deadlock between industrial and developing countries. Regrettable though it was, Japan has continued its efforts to successfully conclude the Doha Round with a belief that the promotion of development through the maintenance and strengthening of the multilateral trading system of the WTO will lead to stability and prosperity of the world economy. For further development of world trade, Japan is willing to secure the persistence of ODA and trade policies through bilateral assistance and cooperation with international organizations and take advantage of these policies' synergy effect for positive contributions to developing countries' participation in the multilateral trade arrangements and their sustainable economic growth.

## (6) Coordination between Japan's ODA and Other Official Flows (OOF) Cooperation with the Private Sector

According to Development Assistance Committee (DAC) statistics, ODA accounted for 39.1% (preliminary) of total fund flows to developing countries in 2002. Other official flows and private-sector funds occupied some three-fifths of the total. These fund flows indicate that ODA, other official flows and private-sector funds should be closely linked for the development of developing countries.

While the public sector has traditionally undertaken socioeconomic infrastructure development, the private sector's funds, technologies and initiatives have recently been exploited for infrastructure development. For example, Japanese companies have participated in the Phu My No. 3 thermal power plant project in Vietnam under an arrangement utilizing private-sector resources. For this project, the JBIC and other banks have extended a syndicated loan, with insurances provided by NEXI, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and