Japan plans to provide the world's least-developed countries with $10 billion in official development assistance over a three-year period to help energize their foreign trade, government sources said Friday.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was set to announce the plan formally to diplomats when they visited his office later in the day, the sources said.
Stimulating these countries' trade has become an issue at the Doha Round of multilateral trade-liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization.
The WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong, which begins Tuesday, is expected to see terse negotiations on the issue of tariff caps for agricultural products.
"Obviously, we have a certain intention of taking the better position at the negotiation table," said Shoichi Nakagawa, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
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