1.	The seventeenth meeting of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Council was held on November 13, 2008, from 17:30 to 18:15; Prime Minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry attended the meeting.
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2.	In the meeting, under the subject "overseas economic cooperation under the current world situation," how Japan should implement overseas economic cooperation, mindful of the effect of developed countries' financial and economic turmoil on developing countries, was discussed in the context of forthcoming international conferences including the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy on November 15 and the East Asia Summit in December.
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3.	First, although the effect on developing countries has been relatively limited so far, there is a concern that their economies will slow down with the decrease of private capital inflow and exports. Recognizing this concern, it was confirmed that the importance of ODA and OOF in promoting developing countries' development and self-sustaining growth, especially in Asia, is increasing.
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4.	Then, it was agreed that Japan will: 1) Constantly collect information of developing countries' economic conditions and Japanese companies' situation abroad, and properly respond to them; 2) Facilitate the development and economic growth of developing countries through the strategic use of ODA and OOF for infrastructure building, and, in particular, promote cooperation between public and private sectors with a view to encouraging private investment into developing countries; 3) Steadily implement existing international commitments to overseas economic cooperation such as doubling ODA to Africa; 4) Effectively implement overseas economic cooperation through making utmost use of new JICA and new JBIC, which were launched as new implementing organizations of overseas economic cooperation on October 1; 5) Support the important role of the IMF, the World Bank, and other international financial institutions, and send out a message in a variety of occasions such as the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy on November 15, that developed countries should steadily provide assistance to developing countries.