Japan will provide no less than 1.5 trillion yen (about US$17 billion) in development aid to Asian countries, the Japanese Prime Minister said on Saturday.

"Japan will support Asian countries by mobilizing funds ranging from Official Development Assistance (ODA), other official flows to private capital," Taro Aso told delegates at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Swiss ski resort.

"For the purpose, Japan is ready to provide ODA not less than 1.5 trillion yen in total," he added.

Aso's Press Secretary Kazuo Kodama said the aid will be spent on infrastructure projects to battle the economic crisis, according to media reports.

Aso all reiterated a pledge by Japan made last November to lend US$100 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which will be used to ensure liquidity for middle-sized and small countries as well as emerging economies.

Sharing his own country's experience in the financial crisis, Aso said Japan has installed an economic stimulus package on a scale of approximately 75 trillion yen (US$840 billion),with fiscal measures alone totaling some 12 trillion yen (about US$135 billion).

He joined other high-profile speakers at the WEF in a call for no retreat into protectionism in the face of the current economic difficulties.

"A major precondition for overcoming the crisis is that the flow of trade and investment not be inhibited," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2009)