At a press conference today, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara highlighted his country's contributions to the earthquake-ravaged island nation of Haiti, and announced that its financial aid has already begun flowing through bilateral arrangements and multilateral organizations.
The foreign minister said in a prepared statement that during the upcoming Haiti Reconstruction Conference, his delegation will discuss implementation of international aid pledges, to ensure that they are used effectively and efficiently. Above all, international donors need to "nurture local ownership" of national reconstruction and Japan supports local initiatives as a means of solving Haiti's problems.
Maehara said that the East Asian power provided over $100 million and over 300 Self-Defence Force troops as peacekeepers in the wake of the tragic quake in January.
In a separate interview following the press conference, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Caribbean Division director-general said that Japan's interests are shared by the other major donor countries, which seek both "bottom-up" and "top-down" efforts to help Haiti. "We must make sure that each approach is working towards the same goal," he added.
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