The policy statement was officially released at the African Union (AU) headquarters, where Koizumi addressed African ambassadors.

    According to the policy statement, Japan has decided to provide additional emergency assistance of approximately 8.7 million U.S. dollars to strengthen its support to the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and its related activities.

    The 7,800-strong AU Darfur force, deployed in 2004, has been constrained by poor funding and has been unable to contain the volatile situation in Darfur. Japan has already extended approximately 5 million dollars to support AMIS and its related activities.

    In addition, Japan intends to extend approximately 10 million dollars in assistance for the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Sudan's Darfur region.

    Japan is determined to pay greater attention and attach more weight to the issue of small arms and light weapons (SALW), in particular to help ensure that measures to control SALW will have their full effect.

    Japan will support the AU efforts to strengthen capacity building of African countries for counter-terrorism, based on its experiences in Asia.

    Japan is cooperating with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in close consultation with its secretariat. Japan's immediate priority sectors for NEPAD support include infrastructure, agriculture, trade and investment promotion, and human resources development.

    Japan is considering supporting five major infrastructure projects under the infrastructure consortium for Africa, which include Mali-Senegal south corridor, Nacala development corridor, rehabilitation programs of ports in Angola and Kenya, as well as improvement of Takoradi port and its neighboring road networks in Ghana.

    In the area of agriculture, Japan is putting emphasis on the development and dissemination of NERICA (New Rice for Africa), focusing for the time being on projects in Guinea and Uganda.

    On human resource development, four technical cooperation projects in Kenya, Ghana, Senegal and Uganda are outlined as candidates for future cooperation.

    The last component of Japan's New Actions for Peace and Development was introduced in the form of an action plan in combating infectious diseases in Africa.

    The action plan seeks to translate Japan's five-year 5 billion dollar worth "health and development initiative", which was launched in June 2005, into concrete actions in the area of infectious diseases in Africa.

    The plan is focused countermeasures against HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB, polio, parasitic diseases and emerging infectious diseases including avian flu, as well as on human resources development and promotion of exchanges among relevant institutions. After ending his Ethiopia tour on Monday afternoon, Koizumi flew to the west African country of Ghana for a visit. Enditem