Okada visits quake-hit Haiti, considering additional Japanese aid+

PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 20 Kyodo -
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada visited Haiti on Saturday for talks
with local officials and said Japan will consider providing additional aid to
the impoverished Caribbean country hit by a devastating earthquake in January.
After meeting Haitian President Rene Preval, Okada told a press conference that
Japan will think of ''additional measures'' for the country on top of the $70
million it has already extended to Haiti for reconstruction and other purposes.
Okada also revealed a plan to dispatch a team of disaster-prevention experts to
Haiti to offer Japan's know-how as an earthquake-prone country.
He added that Japan's support ''will use taxpayers' money, so it must be used
in ways that can gain the understanding of Japanese people.''
The Japanese foreign minister also inspected the activities of Japan's
Self-Defense Forces, which are involved in the U.N. peacekeeping operations in
the country.
''The United Nations has said Japan's contributions serve as an example to
other countries,'' Okada told the SDF troops. ''That is primarily the result of
the activities each one of you is carrying out under severe conditions.''
Okada also met with Edmond Mulet, the acting head of the U.N. Stabilization
Mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, and told him he plans to attend an
international donors' conference for Haiti to be held in New York at the end of
March.
==Kyodo
2010-03-21 21:10:57