KATHMANDU, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The government of Japan has agreed to extend food aid worth 543 million Nepali rupees (some 6.87 million U.S. dollars) to Nepal, local media reported on Thursday.

    According to myrepublica.com, Tatsuo Mizuno, Japanese ambassador to Nepal, and Finance Secretary Rameshwar Prasad Khanal signed the agreement here Wednesday.

    "The assistance is provided with the basic objective of enabling the government of Nepal to procure rice and supply it to the food-deficit districts, and the Nepal Food Corporation is to distribute it through the national distribution network of the government," said a statement issued by Embassy of Japan in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

    Japan, being a major development partner of Nepal, has been providing food aid for the last five years. "As of fiscal year 2008, Japan has extended cumulatively food aid to Nepal totaling 91,732 tons of rice and 24,300 tons of wheat," said the ambassador.

    The ambassador wished that the extended food assistance should be able to help Nepal in addressing the urgent needs in the food deficit districts and in easing the difficulties of local people's daily life, the statement said.