The government intends to put greater emphasis on national and diplomatic interests in doling out official development assistance, according to a medium-term ODA policy guideline released Tuesday.

This is the first time the government has explicitly linked Japan's ODA with national and diplomatic interests, a Foreign Ministry official said.

The guideline also urges Japan to keep the focus of its aid policy on East Asia, with emphasis on cushioning countries in the region from economic crisis.

"For Japan, which lives upon world peace and stability and depends on foreign supplies of energy resources and food, providing assistance actively to developing countries is important for our security and prosperity. ... In a broad sense, that would serve our national interest," says the guideline, which covers a five-year period from fiscal 1999 through 2003.

Citing narcotics as an example, the official said promoting the cultivation of alternative crops would help prevent narcotics production, which he said would benefit Japan.

Based on such ideas, the five-year guideline focuses on helping countries build social safety nets and combat poverty, rather than build roads and bridges under conventional infrastructure-oriented ODA.

Future ODA projects are expected to cover basic education, welfare, women's independence, cultural exchanges, democratization efforts and Japanese language education, the guideline says.

It also puts emphasis on assistance to help those most vulnerable to economic crises, to improve the financial sector and to promote economic structural reforms.

The guideline covers basic aid policy for eight regions: East Asia, Southwest Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Middle East, Africa, Central America, Oceania and Europe. It also calls for promoting south-south cooperation.

As for East Asia, Japan has promised to continue focusing its ODA on the region. The outline sees it as "extremely important for our nation, for economic recovery and social stability to continue in East Asia, which has deep mutual relations with our nation."

"The Asian economic crisis has underscored the vulnerability of economic structures in developing nations," the outline says. "Globalization has also led to a widening of the gap between the rich and the poor."

Regarding the process of implementing ODA, the guideline proposes utilizing nongovernmental organizations to enhance the participation of citizens and coordinate the activities of public and private aid institutions.

Prior to giving the green light to ODA projects, feasibility studies must be conducted, with proper attention paid to environmental protection, the guideline says.

Meanwhile, the guideline stresses the importance of monitoring ongoing ODA projects and assessing the effectiveness of assistance after they are completed.

The guideline, approved at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, comes at a time when Japan's long-standing economic difficulties have led to calls for fundamental reform of ODA policies.

Unlike previous ODA guidelines that set numerical targets for assistance, the latest one carries no such targets, instead underlining the need for more "effectiveness" and "efficiency" in designing ODA.

"Japan's economic and fiscal conditions still remain severe, and the situation surrounding ODA has been changing," the guideline says. "The government should be more aware than ever of the need to gain public understanding and support in providing ODA."

To convince the public, the government should fully explain its ODA policy to the Diet and make ODA "visible" by carefully assessing the needs of aid recipients and urging the governments of recipient nations to promote public understanding of Japanese aid, the guideline says.

The government began the process of compiling the ODA policy guideline in July 1998 after Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi requested measures to gain public support for foreign aid, which goes to more than 150 countries.