And we are determined, working closely with government leaders in the Republic of Korea and America, to help settle this issue. On the issue of conventional arms control, Japan also is actively involved. We are the only major nation in the world which is not selling any weapons to other countries. We have proposed a U.N.-supervised system to make it easier to monitor international sales of conventional arms. We want to broaden this system, to make it more effective.
Economic assistance is another important action to assure long-term global stability and prosperity.
We are encouraging recipient nations which are making efforts to move toward more democratic government, introduce market economies, control military spending, and promote policies to control or dispose of weapons of mass destruction. Japan's ODA decisions are being strongly influenced by countries which follow such policies. Two years ago, Japan pledged more than 7 million dollars in ODA funds to support environmental protection programs around the world. Since then, Japanese aid is helping to restore forest lands in Mexico and Indonesia, supporting the treatment of solid waste in Brazil, and supporting research to deal with acid rain in China. Environmental protection is also one of the key global issues in the Framework Talks.