1.	The sixteenth meeting of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Council was held on May 20, 2008, from 8:25 to 8:55; Prime Minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry attended the meeting.
2.	In the meeting, under the subject "ODA volume and quality," issues about ODA volume and quality were discussed following the fifteenth meeting (May 1, 2008) in the context of Japan's hosting of TICADIV and the G8 summit.
3.	(1)It was agreed that Japan would launch a strong initiative for supporting African development at TICADIV, mindful of the recent change of circumstances surrounding Africa and demand from African countries (2)Japan will provide assistance with a view to boosting economic growth in Africa, focused mainly in the following fields:
			(a) building region-wide infrastructure such as road networks,
			(b) expanding support for maternal and child health such as saving 400,000 lives of children and improving care for pregnant women
			(c) raising agricultural productivity including doubling rice production
			(d) providing safe drinking water
	(3)To promote this initiative, Japan will double ODA to Africa in 2012. Japan will also actively make use of ODA, OOF, and trade insurance to help double the amount of private-sector direct investment to Africa by 2012.
4.	It was also agreed that ODA volume and quality will continue to be discussed.