Japan will provide new yen loans worth between 7 billion yen and 10 billion yen to Pakistan in a fresh bid to mend bilateral ties soured by Islamabad's nuclear tests three years ago, government sources said Thursday.
The sources said Japan will convey the decision to Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar when he visits Tokyo in late March, although the exact amount of the loans has still to be determined.
The new yen loans will be used for the second phase of a tunnel construction project in Pakistan's northern province of Kohat, the sources said. Japan extended about 5.4 billion yen in low-interest yen loans for the first phase of the project in fiscal 1994, which ended in March 1995.