Japan Should Stop ODA to Burma
2 October 2007 7:00 pm

On 3 October 2007, 56 organisations in Japan presented a statement to the Japanese government to stop Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Burma. Until 2004, Japan was Burma’s biggest financial supporter and needs to assess its role in the conflict.

On 3 October 2007, 56 organisations addressed a statement to the
Japanese government urging it to stop Official Development Assistance
(ODA) to Burma until the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) of
Burma releases Aung San Suu Kyi along with all political prisoners.

The statement says that Japan had been the biggest financial supporter
of Burma up until 2004. According to the statement, in 2002 the
Japanese government agreed with Burma to provide about 600 million yen
(=about 5.1 million US dollars in October 2007) to build a generating
station. In 1988, Japan loaned about 2500 million yen (=about 21.3 US
dollars in October 2007) to build Yangon International Airport.

The People’s Forum on Burma, an organisation based in Tokyo, drafted
the statement. FORUM-ASIA partner organizations are among the
organisations that endorsed the statement.

To read the statement, please visit (in Japanese only)