The New Nation - Internet Edition

Japan yesterday decided to extend grant aid totaling 6,620 million yen as food aid for the ten countries listed below, as part of the measures to cope with the problem of high food prices.

On April 25 this year, Japan announced that it would implement emergency food aid of approximately 100 million US dollars in the next three months in response to increasing food prices. Also on July 4, Japan announced that it would implement food aid of approximately 50 million dollars by October this year. The decision on this aid is, therefore, part of the concrete implementation.

For the aid to be provided through the WFP, Mr. John M. Powell, Deputy Executive Director of WFP's External Affairs and Resource Development Department, and Mr. Yuji Nakamura, Japanese Ambassador to Italy, will exchange Notes to this effect today in Rome.

The Exchanges of Notes for the bilateral assistance will be made in sequence in the future.

Of the decision made this time, a total of 4,710 million yen will be bilateral assistance and a total of 1,910 million yen will go through the WFP.

The food aid provided by Japan, including the donation of this time, accounts for about 203.12 million US dollars in total at this point.

Breakdown of the food aid decided (amount provided):

(1) Bilateral Assistance

Eritrea (630 million yen)

Cote d'Ivoire (670 million yen)

Congo (840 million yen)

Sao Tome Principe (450 million yen)

Sierra Leone (560 million yen)

Liberia (780 million yen)

Haiti (780 million yen)

(2) Through the WFP

Timor-Leste (240 million yen)

Sri Lanka (820 million yen)

Bangladesh (850 million yen)