Japan should urge other countries and international organizations to set up a fund to handle reconstruction aid for Iraq, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday.

"It is a good (idea) for such a fund to coordinate (aid efforts among the international community)," Shiokawa told reporters. "The government has had this idea for some time."

Shiokawa said Japan, together with the international community, should lend a helping hand to Iraq until it has recovered enough to use its resources for reconstruction purposes.