After a few years of near neglect, Japan appears to be again turning its attention to the greater Mekong subregion as a policy frontier for official development assistance.
According to government sources, a large-scale government mission will be dispatched to several Southeast Asian countries -- including Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar -- by summer to explore specific new development projects in the greater Mekong subregion eligible for ODA.
The mission will comprise senior officials from trade, foreign, finance and other ministries as well as from the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.