Official development assistance may be on a long-term decline, but its effectiveness remains integral to Azerbaijan's development, the country's deputy foreign minister said Friday in Tokyo.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Japan ranked as the biggest donor to Azerbaijan in 2002, supplying approximately $141 million. However, aid plummeted to only $4.1 million in 2006, leaving Japan in fifth place overall.

But Araz Azimov, in Tokyo to attend a meeting between Japan and a regional organization of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, pointed out that Japan's agreement last week to assist Azerbaijan's construction of water supply facilities will benefit 700,000 people.