The international community has high expectations for Japanese assistance to rebuild Afghanistan, and Japan needs to make an "appropriate" pledge at next week's conference in Tokyo to this end, Sadako Ogata said Thursday.
In a meeting with Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, Ogata, Japan's special envoy on Afghanistan, said priority areas for Japanese aid should be refugee-repatriation assistance, removal of land mines, education, mass media infrastructure development and promotion of women's social participation.
Ogata was reporting to Tanaka about her Jan. 8-14 visit to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. She also met with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi earlier in the day.
Ogata noted that a Kabul television station she visited was still using equipment extended by Japan in 1977. Mass media development, including providing technical assistance and new equipment, would help promote education and peace, Ogata was quoted as saying by a Foreign Ministry official.
Education of women and children, as well as job training programs for people in their 20s to 40s who lack work expertise because of 20 years of war, are vital for rebuilding the country, she was quoted as saying.
Ogata will chair the reconstruction conference Monday and Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after her talks with Tanaka, she said she wants to see a firm Japanese stance on Afghan reconstruction and a commitment by other donor countries.