Japan Says It Will Help Pacific Nations Access Satellite Services

Japan unveiled an aid package Saturday to support educational and technical development in Pacific island countries, as leaders from the region gathered for their second summit meeting.

“Needless to say, own efforts by Pacific islands and aids by supporting countries including Japan are important to cope with a giant wave of globalisation,” Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said at the start of the one-day Pacific Islands Leaders’ Meeting 2000 in Miyazaki, southern Japan.

Japan will provide job training for at least 3,000 people in 16 member states of the South Pacific Forum (SPF) in the next five years, Mori said.

As part of measures to promote industrial development in island states, Japan will employ “remote education support” using communication satellites and the Internet, the Japanese premier said.

The first Pacific leaders’ summit was held in October 1997 in Tokyo, when 14 South Pacific countries and two self-governing states from the SPF, which was established in 1971, took part.

The SPF members include Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Tokyo’s aid package includes one million dollars for a Pacific IT promotion project by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mori said.

“Information and telecommunication technologies are essential for surviving the era of globalisation, but the growing gap, so-called digital divide, between Pacific islands and industrialized countries is becoming a pressing problem,” Mori said.

Japan will take two million dollars from its “Human Security” fund in the United Nations to help island countries cope with infectious diseases, drug trafficking and organized crime.

Mori also announced a one-million-dollar contribution “to promote intellectual and cultural exchanges” between Japan and the SPF members.

Space Daily Editorial Team