(extract)
I.Grant aid to the Palestinian Authority
Second, assistance for the Palestinian Authority. Japan has decided this morning to provide 10 million US dollars in the form of non-project grand aid to ease the budgetary burden of the Palestine Authority. Japan is committed to help the Palestinians to improve their economy, institutional capacity and livelihood, which are essential to any independent sate and to keeping the momentum of the peace process. Japan has proposed "The Corridor for Peace and Prosperity Initiative." This is to build an agro-industrial park in the Jordan Valley, which will provide the Palestinians job opportunities, facilitating the export of value-added products to the surrounding areas. Japan's contributions since the Oslo Process started in 1993 have amounted to about 1 billion US dollars thus far.