"Japan is close to feeling confident that pledges will be close to four billion dollars, which is being expected by Islamabad," he said at media briefing after he met President Asif Ali Zardari. Two separate meetings on Pakistan are to be held in Tokyo on Friday, April 17: first with 'Friends of Democratic Pakistan' (FoDP) in the morning, and second the aid donors' conference in the afternoon. Yoshikawa said that the exact amount could not be told because most of the pledges would come bilaterally between Pakistan and the concerned donor country or agency.
He did not say how much Japan would give, but the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday that Japan was finalising plans to provide Pakistan with up to $1 billion over two years. Japan, the diplomat said, has urged the governments and international donors to make generous contributions in aid to Pakistan.
He said that major demands from Pakistan were to see that Pakistan remains committed in fight against terrorism and extremism and stick to the economic reforms. Apart from this, the international community also wants to remain within the budgetary framework and alleviate poverty.
The FoDP meeting will raise the level of information about Pakistan problems. There will be political commitment from the international community not to leave Pakistan alone, he added. He said that Pakistan's tribal areas had become real trouble. "The militancy from these areas is becoming threat to Pakistan itself," he said.
About the drone attacks, he said that international law and Geneva convention must be followed. At the same time, he added, he had no authority to speak on drone attacks. He also refrained from giving any comment regarding Pakistan-India tension.
Earlier Yoshikawa, held a meeting with President Zardari. Zardari and expressed hope that at Friends of Pakistan's meeting, the international community would come up with full support to help the country fight the ongoing war on terror and extremism. They also discussed bilateral relations and the level of co-operation between the two friendly countries.
The meeting was attended among others by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Information Minister Qamer Zaman Kaira, Advisor to PM on Interior Rehman Malik, Secretary General to President Salman Faruqui and Japan's Ambassador to Pakistan Chichiro Atsumi.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2009