Japan resumed direct financial aid to the Palestinians on Wednesday when Foreign Minister Taro Aso signed a multi-million dollar aid package for the Western-backed government.
Aso signed the deal with Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank town of Ramallah as he continued a regional tour which Tokyo has said aims to promote the peace process through economic means.
"The deal provides direct aid from the Japanese government to the Palestinian Authority in the amount of 11.3 million dollars for the general budget, support for an agriculture project and other economic sectors," a senior Palestinian official told AFP.
Japan, the world's second-largest economy and a major donor to the Middle East, will provide another eight million dollars in humanitarian aid, the official said.
Japan suspended direct aid to the Palestinians in 2006 after the Islamist Hamas movement, considered a terror group in the West, formed a cabinet after sweeping a January parliamentary poll.
Comments
Comments are closed.