Japan will host an international development conference in Okinawa Prefecture on July 24 and 25 to seek ways of promoting development assistance, Foreign Ministry officials said July 4.
About 50 officials from 37 countries and five international organizations will participate in the conference, the officials said. The international community has been seeking new approaches to development assistance, as cooperation in this field among industrialized and developing countries has become important since the end of the Cold War. Japan is particularly interested in exploring new approaches as it is facing reductions in its official development assistance funds, the officials said.