ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: Japan is taking a fresh look at Pakistan’s aid needs to formulate appropriate strategies and cooperation projects for the country.

A seven-member mission headed by Prof Dr Shigemochi Hirashima will spend a week in Pakistan. Before its departure on Feb 1, the mission will make a study of the country’s situation and verify critical development needs to be able to propose Japan’s future directions on official development assistance to Pakistan.

The major tasks of the mission would be five-pronged: to analyze the current socio-economic situations and development strategies of the country; to review Japan’s and other donors’ development assistance to the country; to identify the critical development issues and other constraints in development of the country; to propose directions that Japan’s official development assistance to Pakistan should take, and to work out Japan’s basic orientation and major strategies to meet that direction; and to make recommendations on development issues and considerations for more efficient and effective assistance.

The study report will be scheduled by April. The report will be utilized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency as the background paper for formulating appropriate strategies and cooperation projects for Pakistan.

The finding of the survey will be utilized to formulate the final proposal of the Country Study.

The mission members will be divided into three groups to focus on different areas of importance.

Besides the leader, Dr Hirashima, who is a professor in the faculty of international studies at the Meijigakuin University, the mission will comprise Dr Takao (Kuboki) Hirose, professor in the faculty of international relations at Daito Bunka University; Hiroki Fukamachi, senior researcher, Area Studies Development Institute of Developing Economics, JETRO; Dr Takashi Kurosaki, associate professor at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitosubashi University; Akira Murata, deputy managing director, Institute for International Cooperation, JICA; Nami Kasahara, associate specialist; and Kae Udaka, JICE researcher, IFIC.

Independent economists are attaching a lot of importance to the mission and believe that the decision to send the mission signals a new but positive turn in the bilateral relations which suffered a setback recently because of some misunderstandings with the Japanese foreign minister cancelling her visit to Pakistan.