With Decline in Development Aid, Japan Fears Losing Diplomatic Clout

With Decline in Development Aid, Japan Fears Losing Diplomatic Clout

TOKYO -- As expected, at the meeting here of G-8 development ministers earlier this month, rich countries reaffirmed their commitment to tackling poverty in Africa and pledged to fulfill past promises of aid to developing countries.

Yet for host nation Japan, the meeting came at an awkward time, coinciding with the release of a report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development stating that Japan's net official development assistance (ODA) fell 30 percent in real terms in 2007 from a year earlier.

The latest figure means Japan has now dropped to fifth place among the world's major aid donors, its lowest position since 1972, and a far cry from the 1990s, when Japan consistently topped the United States.

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