Link Japanese, U.S. Resources to Aid Africa

Japan’s announcement of a $43-billion aid initiative opens the door to needed cooperation between the United States and Japan, particularly in promoting sustain able development in Africa.

At present, the overall policy climate between the two economic superpowers is fraught with discord. The singling out of Japan as an unfair trader among the nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and a new bout of Japan-bashing in the private sector have provoked reciprocal criticism of U.S. trade policy from the other side of the Pacific.

These very real conflicts will not disappear in the near term. They can, however, be balanced by identifying policy areas where joint action is in the interests of both nations. U.S.-Japanese development cooperation in Africa is one such initiative. Africa is a policy-neutral zone where neither the United States nor Japan has a colonial past; successful collaboration could help set a pattern for working together to address global problems.

A series of interrelated issues--poverty, environmental sustainability, population growth and political reform--are emerging as central on a new global agenda for relations between industrial and developing countries. Africa is at the heart of this new agenda. No other area faces so severe a set of problems.

Unless both African governments and aid agencies change current policies, Africa’s prospects will remain bleak; poverty will worsen and environmental degradation will intensify.

Japanese aid policies are moving to embrace this combined agenda; the new proposal includes $600 million in new grants for sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, $2.25 billion is earmarked for global environmental measures, such as helping poor people find alternatives to cutting down trees for fuel or subsistence farming--major causes of deforestation in the poorest countries of Africa.

A joint U.S.-Japanese initiative in support of African development plays to the current complementary strengths of both countries. While the Japanese are able to demonstrate their global commitment by “recycling” their surplus funds as aid, the deficit-strapped United States has stores of experience in project implementation. The Agency for International Development has had field missions in Africa since 1960, while the Japanese have not yet established a cadre of trained development officials. Thus the grounds for mutual cooperation: The Japanese could provide additional financing while the United States contributes human capital, working jointly with Japanese aid personnel.

A cooperative effort to promote sustainable development is timely. The consensus in Japan about foreign aid as a form of “burden-sharing” has weakened; calls for “power-sharing” have led to an emphasis on the formation of a coherent Japanese development approach. The United States, in turn, is undertaking a critical reevaluation of its aid policy. Many observers are pushing for the articulation of an approach more genuinely oriented toward sustainability and poverty alleviation measures.

The two areas especially ripe for cooperation are agricultural development and environmental protection. U.S. and Japanese aid programs have increasingly emphasized these objectives. The Agency for International Development has established itself as a leader in environmental development among bilateral economic-assistance agencies. Through its environmental-assessment program and policy discussions with governments, the agency has begun to help developing countries come to terms with the natural resource problems of agricultural development.

The environmental costs of industrial development have become a major global political issue. George Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Francois Mitterrand and Mikhail S. Gorbachev are vying for leadership in combating global warming and depletion of the ozone layer.

But the developing countries justly point out that cleaner technology advocated by the leaders of the industrial nations is quite expensive. Broad Japanese financial support of transfers of this type of capital could play an important role in African industrialization, which is yet at an early stage.

Cooperation in these areas would add a positive aspect to the U.S.-Japan relationship. Coupled with recent NATO arms reduction initiatives, it would be an important demonstration of leadership for the Bush Administration.

The opportunity for the United States and Japan to make a joint “good-will” proposal for new forms of cooperation seeking the considerable experience of the other OECD member nations should not be missed.