|
07 January 2005
By Minivan News
(Kyodo) Japan pledged Thursday to provide
$80 million to Sri Lanka and $16 million
to the Maldives in grants to help the countries
after the earthquake-triggered tsunamis in
the Indian Ocean, a Japanese Foreign Ministry
official said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura
explained the plan to Sri Lankan Foreign
Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and Maldivian
Foreign Minister Fathulla Jameel in separate
meetings in the Indonesian capital, according
to the official.
|
A speedboat on the pavement |
The assistance is part of the $250 million
in grants Japan pledged to give directly
to countries affected by the Dec. 26 killer
tsunamis.
Japan has also promised to provide another
$250 million to the region through international
organizations.
In the talks held on the sidelines of a
meeting of world leaders on the relief and
reconstruction in the aftermath of the disaster,
Machimura told the two that Japan will also
assist them in their mid- to long-term plans,
by for example giving more aid, the official
said.
Jameel told Machimura that waves swept over
his country, which consists of numerous islands,
washing away the surface of farmlands and
probably causing great harm to the agriculture
industry, according to the official.
|
