Japan was the world's top foreign aid donor from 1991 to 2000, topping the United States. But faced with budget shortages, Japan has been reducing its official development assistance in recent years. A report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says that in 2007 Japan slipped to fifth place among aid donors.
This trend both tarnishes Japan's reputation and weakens its diplomatic leverage. Our leaders must realize Japan has an international responsibility to assist developing countries and improve the welfare of their people. There is a danger that Japan will not be able to demonstrate leadership in the July summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Hokkaido, where development will be a key issue. In the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, participating nations agreed to strengthen their ODA. Japan pledged an extra $10 billion in a five-year period through 2009 above its 2004 ODA amount, which reached $8.9 billion in actual results.
While Japan has been cutting its ODA budget, European countries have been increasing theirs, especially in Africa. Japan's drop to fifth place comes at a bad time. In late May, Japan will host the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama.