The Foreign Ministry unveiled Tuesday a 15-point reform plan on official development assistance that will boost third-party inspections of aid projects and strengthen cooperation with nongovernmental organizations.

The measures, adopted in response to recommendations by an expert panel on ODA reform, aim to secure transparency and increase efficiency of ODA projects amid public criticism over the nation's huge aid spending.

Under the plan, auditing without prior notice by outside bodies will be carried out on each aid project, including yen loans, grants and technical assistance. Submission of the balance sheet on each yen-loan project will also be required.

For grant aid, the criteria for the third-party auditing will be lowered to projects worth 3 million yen or more from the current 20 million yen or more, so that most projects will be subject to an outside audit. The bidding and contract process is to be strictly checked.

The new auditing steps will be taken from fiscal 2003, which starts next April, as a new budget allocation is required, ministry officials said.

To strengthen partnership with NGOs, the ministry will establish two subcommittees in September that will discuss ODA policy and promote coordination in the field under a regular NGO-Foreign Ministry dialogue.

The ministry will immediately launch regular meetings of embassies and NGOs to discuss specific projects in major recipient countries, including China, Mongolia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Kenya.

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi told a news conference Tuesday the ministry will immediately take action and pursue further reform steps that were not covered by the latest plan.

Other measures under the new plan include regular town meetings on ODA, launching an e-mail magazine on ODA this month, establishing a human resource center to effectively recruit aid personnel, and strengthening aid evaluations by third parties.

610 million yen for NPO

The government said Tuesday that it will provide the nonprofit organization Japan Platform, which is involved in humanitarian relief efforts, with 610 million yen, government officials said.

Japan Platform is a network of 17 nongovernmental organizations, the Foreign Ministry, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and other organizations.

The total represents an increase of 30 million yen over the previous fiscal year.

The government made the decision at a morning Cabinet meeting, the officials said.

Japan Platform will hold a meeting of its board of trustees to determine how much aid to give each NGO, the officials said.