Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called Friday for an increase in the foreign aid budget, which has been cut over the past several years.
"I think we have come to a stage to consider an increase," Koizumi told reporters at his office.
The idea is based on a perception that Japan will have to provide aid in a matter "suited to Japan's national strength" to deal with such global issues as poverty, the prime minister said.
Having reached a peak in fiscal 1997, the budget for official development assistance has been gradually reduced as the government came under fiscal restraints, aside from a slight increase in fiscal 1999.
In a report on U.N. reform in March, Secretary General Kofi Annan called for all developed nations to increase their aid for developing countries to 0.7 percent of their national income by 2015.
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura on Monday said the Foreign Ministry would try to have the budget increased in fiscal 2006 for the first time since 1999.
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