Japan will dispatch a delegation to Indonesia to look into Jakarta's economic crisis and collect information for additional financial aid, the Finance Ministry announced Friday.
A senior Finance Ministry official said Tokyo is prepared to "actively contribute" to alleviating the crisis and will extend additional aid given Japan's long-standing ties with Indonesia and the fact that its stable growth is essential to the rest of the region.
Tokyo is keeping in close contact with the International Monetary Fund, other Group of Seven nations and Singapore to coordinate efforts to support Indonesia, the official added.
The team, expected to depart Feb. 11 on a trip lasting between a week and 10 days, will be headed by Tadao Chino, former vice finance minister for international affairs.
The delegation is to include officials from the Finance, Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Industry ministries so that various trade and political factors in Indonesia can also be examined. Japan has already pledged $5 billion in financial assistance to Indonesia as a "second line of defense," on top of aid offered through such international bodies as the IMF.