"Despite facing the post-disaster and economic crisis at home, Japan made a pledge to continue its mission of helping create a better world for the future. One of the ways to realize that mission is to provide assistance for ASEAN," he said.
Masaru said Japan at the moment faced three challenges namely recovery from nuclear disaster, recovery of domestic economy and efforts to make a healthier domestic economy.
He said to improve domestic situation, the government had done various steps such as reforming the general taxation and conducting investigation towards the nuclear incident in Fukushima plant.
"Though facing challenges at home, we consider it is important to also continue our efforts to help ASEAN realizing its connectivity plan by 2015. We expect ASEAN will be much prosperous in the future so that this potential market area can be even more promising in years to come," he added.
Earlier, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda during participation at the 14th ASEAN Plus Three Meeting and the 19th ASEAN Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, told Japan would provide a 2 trillion Yen (US$25 billion) aid for connectivity projects in ASEAN.
The 33 projects are expected to be funded by Japan included trade facilitation in Asia, establishment of supply chain visibility platform for ASEAN countries, introduction of Port Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and the disaster management network for the ASEAN region.
Japan also proposed to fund projects of certification and regulation of the automotive sector as a support for the betterment of ASEAN`s vehicle riding security, projects related to maritime economic corridor and infrastructures and a relief aid for ASEAN member countries which have been affected by floods, such as Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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