And yet if they don't spend, the economy will not fully recover. I believe Americans call this a Catch-22. So government spending has been keeping the economy afloat until confidence returns and the benefits of restructuring take hold. In November, the government adopted a new economic package amounting to approximately 170 billion dollars. Finally, a fifth change is how much more internationally engaged Japan is becoming as it fulfills a more global role in the world.
Japan is the world's largest contributor of foreign aid.
Under the U.S.-Japan Common Agenda, we've been working on global health problems, overpopulation, the environment and natural disasters. As a result of our joint efforts, polio has been virtually eradicated in the Western Pacific. On the security side, ten years ago, the recent Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation would never have been adopted. Neither would Japan have reached an agreement with the U.S. on joint defensive ballistic missile research. We would not have become part of UN peacekeeping missions in trouble spots around the globe.