TOKYO: A Japanese government annual report Tuesday stressed the importance of providing aid to foreign countries such as Ukraine, saying that crises around the world are not always unrelated to Japan.

The 2023 White Paper on Development Cooperation, submitted by Foreign Minister KAMIKAWA Yoko at a cabinet meeting, said that official development assistance programs that stabilize regions and tackle global issues are essential contributions.

In 2022, Japan’s official development assistance stood at 17,499.94 million dollars. As in the previous year, the country was the third-largest ODA donor in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee after the United States and Germany.

The ODA total came to 0.39 percent of Japan’s gross national income, below the 0.7 percent target set by the United Nations.

JIJI Press