Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan.

Indonesia is the third biggest recipient of Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) after China and India, says Vice Ambassador of Japan to Indonesia, Satoru Satoh, making Japan the biggest donor of aid to the country.

In 2005, he said, Japan shelled out 107.85 billion yen to Indonesia. ODA aid was based on three principles, – sustainable (private) development, building democracy, and creating peace and stability.

There was a self-interested aspect to this, Satoru said. Instability in Indonesia threatened Japan, presumably due to Japan’s reliance on the shipping lanes of the Malacca Straits, through which travels 80% of Japan’s oil from the middle east.

Additionally it seems that much of Japan’s ODA package is given in the form of project loans, such as for the planned Jakarta MRT train line, in which Japanese consultants and contractors tend to receive much of the benefit. realityofaid

Japan not only provided aid on the economic front but also in the humanitarian area, such as after the Aceh tsunami, the Yogyakarta earthquake and west Java quake and tsunami. antara

Japan is a distant second to the United States as the biggest provider of Official Development Assistance throughout the world.