A study group set up by the coalition parties started talks Tuesday to overhaul the 1 trillion yen ODA budget, party officials said.
Officials in charge of foreign affairs from the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party reconfirmed an agreement reached earlier by the parties' top policy planners to consider reducing official development assistance in the next fiscal year, which starts April 1.
Because ODA includes obligatory expenditures, such as Japan's share of expenses for U.N. organizations, the tripartite group will hold hearings with the Foreign Ministry today.
LDP Policy Research Council chief Shizuka Kamei has proposed slashing ODA by 30 percent, but the party's Foreign Affairs Division and other in-house organs have voiced opposition to this suggestion.
Asian nations, which depend on Japan as their top ODA donor, have asked Tokyo not to cut ODA spending.
Japan's ODA budget was the world's largest for the ninth consecutive year in 1999.