Japan's Fukuda Moves Towards RIC Alliance; Pushes African
Development and Doubling Rice Production.
In an anticipated development of what Lyndon
LaRouche has identified as a strategic shift, Japanese Prime
Minister Yasuo Fukuda moved to further align himself with the
leading Eurasian nations of Russia, India, China (RIC). Following
the May 14 RIC and BRIC meetings in the Russian city of
Yekaterinburg, LaRouche made the critical point that the RIC
group has formed an active alliance against the British, and
against the present government of the United States, while
drawing in other regional powers, such as Japan, and Korea. This
international fight has emerged increasingly around the food
crisis.
At the May 28-30th International Conference on African
Development (TICAD IV), Prime Minister Fakuda will announce his
pledge to double aid and private investment to Africa by 2012.
This pledge coincides with a similar drive by China and Russia to
aid in African development.
He expressed his intention to double Official Development Assistance (ODA) during a meeting of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Council Tuesday morning. What is significant, is the increase of funds for development, whereas, much of the previously pledged 100 billion yen ($1 billion) had been slated
for debt relief. Fukuda will pledge to allocate a "considerable portion" of $100 million that Tokyo had promised in April as emergency assistance to alleviate the effects of the global food crisis,
including plans to double rice production in Africa in the next decade from 14 million tons produced in 2006.
|