Japan's Defense Ministry To Give Disaster Relief Skills To Southeast Asian Nations

[LyKC note: This can be an additional great opportunity for Cambodia to obtain the assistance to upgrade the country's skills to effectively cope with disasters that may happen]

Tokyo 05 January 2011 -- The Daily Yomiuri

The Defense Ministry plans to provide Southeast Asian nations with technical assistance in disaster relief, humanitarian support, antipiracy measures and other areas from next fiscal year, according to sources.

The plan is aimed at stabilizing security in Southeast Asia by sharing expertise acquired by the Self-Defense Forces through domestic disaster relief and U.N. peacekeeping operations.
Security stability in the region is important for the maintenance of Japan's shipping lanes. The ministry intends to set up an office in fiscal 2011 to handle the project.

About 30 million yen has been allocated in the fiscal 2011 budget for the dispatch of SDF personnel to Southeast Asian nations, where they will instruct military personnel of those nations.

The ministry already has received requests from Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam for training in land mine removal, antipiracy measures and disaster relief, respectively.

The SDF contributes to the international community mainly through U.N. peacekeeping operations after natural disasters and during international conflicts.

The SDF has engaged in technical assistance activities before, under bilateral agreements between Japan and the nations concerned.

The National Defense Program Outline for fiscal 2011 and beyond, approved by the Cabinet in December, stipulates that SDF expertise be used to promote cooperative relations with nations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The outline also calls for this country to establish and strengthen frameworks for regional cooperation on these issues, and help other nations in the region build up their own technical expertise.