The top provider of official development assistance in the 1990s, Japan has since been shrinking its foreign aid budget as the economy stagnates.

But Sadako Ogata, president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the implementing arm of Japan's ODA, says developing countries continue to have high expectations for Japanese support.

"It's necessary to consider thoroughly Japan's role in the international community again," said Ogata, former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.