After months of foot-dragging, Japan appears willing to help Colombia pay for its ambitious, multibillion-dollar plan to crack down on drugs, achieve peace with guerrillas and rebuild its economy.
A Japanese government mission, headed by Mitsuo Sakaba, deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry's Central and South American affairs bureau, will visit Colombia next week to explore possible Japanese assistance for the program, ministry sources said Thursday.
The sources said the mission will also include senior officials of the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation -- two major government-affiliated aid organs.