Opening remarks and session 1

Project Director Emeritus Professor Purnendra Jain introduced the aims and significance of the theme of the symposium and welcomed the speakers and moderators and some 110 participants who joined in via zoom from Australia, Japan and around the Indo-Pacific region.

Professor Adam Graycar, Director of the Stretton Institute, emphasised the importance of policy debate on foreign aid, especially when the world is facing a global pandemic. He also thanked the Japan Foundation for financial support and the JICA Ogata Sadako Institute for Peace and Development for collaborating on this project.

In his opening remarks, Professor Takahara Akio from The University of Tokyo and JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development commented that despite having its own vision of development, Japan, as a donor country does not believe in imposing its vision on recipient nations but it rather acts as a partner and facilitator. The primary aim of Japan’s foreign aid is to enhance the welfare of the recipient nations’ population and is provided in a manner that is respectful to the prevailing perspectives and chosen development trajectories.    

He further stated that the cornerstone of Japan’s foreign aid policy is based on the concept of “human security”, which can be achieved through fulfilling the global population’s needs, preserving their human dignity and overcoming their fears.  While aspects of economic stability and peace are crucial to achieving human security, health is also essential. Here he stressed the role of Australia as an important partner in Japan’s foreign aid policy. He added that Japan can learn from Australia’s experience in its response to COVID-19 and broader government policies which contribute towards the preservation of human security and multiculturalism. 

He thanked the organisers and the speakers of this symposium, and pointed out that it was an opportunity to connect and discuss Japan and Australia’s foreign aid policies and their potential partnership in this field.

Session 1: An overview of Japan and Australia’s Foreign Aid Policies: Key Features

Moderator: Professor Andrew Rosser - The University of Melbourne

Japanese development cooperation in a changing world

Speaker 1: Professor Ohno Izumi – Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo

Professor Ohno provided an overview of Japan’s development cooperation and Official Development Assistance (ODA), including Japanese perspectives on aid and development, organisational features, and comparison of other donors. She stated that based on its “dual experiences” of recipient and donor, Japan views development aid as a mean to support graduation of recipient countries overcoming aid dependency. Japan also upholds key principles of human security. 

She then summarised the evolution of Japan’s ODA policy since the 1950s, stating the importance of the 1987 Kuranari Doctrine (Kuranari Tadashi was then Japan’s foreign minister) for articulating the five principles of Japan’s cooperation to the Pacific islands countries. These principles are: respect for independence and self-help; support for regional cooperation; ensuring political stability; economic cooperation for development; and promoting “People-to-People” exchange. She also explained that the Development Cooperation Charter in 2015 has sharpened the strategic focus and expanded the scope of its cooperation (the two previous charters were called ODA charters), while maintaining the basic philosophy which respects peace and prosperity, human security, and self-reliant development.

Currently, we are in the age of turbulence, characterised by COVID-19, worsening inequity, fiscal stringency, and the rise of nationalism in donor countries. She stressed that despite these challenges, development cooperation continues to have an important role to play and that it can make a positive contribution by tackling root causes of the problems, facilitating learning, finding localised solutions, and fostering social trust based on collaborative efforts. She concluded by saying that as like-minded Pacific countries and long-standing partners, Japan and Australia share common values and their development cooperation is key to sustainability, inclusiveness, and resilience in the Indo-Pacific region.           

Australian aid policy

Speaker 2: Professor Stephen Howes, Professor of Economics and Director Development Policy Centre, Australian National University

Professor Howes summarised Australia’s aid policy under the current Morrison government and its emerging trends. In the broader context, Australia’s foreign aid is declining in terms of its ODA to gross national income (GNI) ratio and is expected to decline even further. This is in stark contrast to many other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) who have increased their ODA budgets. He mentioned that the Australian government has sacrificed its foreign aid budget in order to reduce its current budgetary deficit. 

Australia’s foreign aid policy is geographically focused, with a lion share of its aid directed towards the Pacific Islands and Timor-Leste (40%). Between 2013/14 and 2018/19 fiscal years (FY), aid to health, education, and resilience bore the brunt of the budgetary cuts. However in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 FY, these cuts were reversed, and there is now also a focus on infrastructure and resilience. He mentioned that the Australian government is also investing in private sector development and labour mobility to assist countries which have low absorption capacity of aid because their economies are too small and remote.  

In terms of aid delivery, Australia channels most of its aid through multilateral institutions and through commercial entities. In recent years, support to Australian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has declined and so has the contribution from the public, which have left the aid sector struggling, particularly those who are involved in delivering assistance internationally.

In the wake of COVID-19, Australia has taken a lead in undertaking major aid initiatives in the form of increased economic support and vaccine supply. The beneficiary countries have been mostly the Pacific Island states and Timor Leste, however it also responded to the recent major outbreaks in India and has enhanced partnerships with some Southeast Asian nations as well. Professor Howes also mentioned that he has been a part of an initiative that monitors Australian aid and information is available on the following websites www.devpolicy.org and www.devpolicy.ord/aidtracker

You can watch the recording of session 1 below: