The government will help poor nations market their specialty goods in Japan under the "one village, one product" initiative in line with an aid package presented in December, officials said Saturday.
The initiative, which originated in Oita Prefecture in 1979, is intended to make selected local products globally competitive.
Japan pledged to assist developing countries expand trade with the new $10 billion aid plan that was unveiled in the runup to the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Hong Kong at the end of last year.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japan External Trade Organization will hold exhibitions of goods from least-developed countries and other poor countries in a bid to introduce them to retailers and consumers here, the officials said.
The ministry and JETRO will first organize a Mekong trade fair in late February in Tokyo, to show items from such countries as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
They will set up space for business negotiations at the event for matchmaking between developing economies and Japanese firms.
METI plans to hold an African trade fair in August, inviting such countries as Tanzania and Ethiopia.
The ministry will solicit participants at a meeting with representatives from developing countries' embassies in Tokyo this week.
The ministry is also considering organizing similar events across Japan and will accept requests from local governments to host such fairs, they said.