Nearly 10 months after launching a "guns for butter" program in Cambodia, Japan is preparing to extend the pilot project to include other conflict-plagued, impoverished countries around the globe, especially in Asia and Africa.
According to Foreign Ministry sources, Japan is considering cooperating with the U.N. Development Program's small arms-collection and development efforts in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.
Japan is also considering accepting an informal United Nations request to provide $3 million in financial assistance to help finance the world body's small arms-collection program in Sierra Leone, the sources said.