1.	The Sixth Meeting of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Council was held on January 24, from 9:30 to 10:15.
2.	Prime Minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry attended the meeting under the topic "Issues over ODA volume and quality" and discussed, among others, the question of how to fulfill, against the tight fiscal background, Japan's international commitments particularly to　increase its　ODA volume and to improve aid quality which would enable strategic deployment of overseas economic cooperation.
3.	First, it was agreed that Japan will steadily implement its declared standing international commitments particularly to increase its ODA volume by $10 billion in aggregate over the five-year period of 2005-2009, which was aimed to secure the necessary ODA volume within the coordinated efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It was also discussed how Japan, in the midst of strengthening expenditure reform, should respond to the general scaling up of ODA witnessed among major donor countries.
4.	With regard to the international commitment to increase ODA volume, it was confirmed that Japan will:(a) actively promote the Yen Loan by　increasing the number of new recipient countries and speeding up its decision-making and disbursement; (b) improve the implementing regime through fundamental revamps such as the acceleration of project formation by vigorous pursuit of coordination between overseas offices of JICA and JBIC; and (c) monitor the process of commitment fulfillment by the Council.
5.	As to the question of ODA quality, measures to increase effective/efficient aid implementation and to improve aid quality were discussed. It was also agreed that concerned parties will: (a) realize synergies between the Yen Loan, grant, and technical cooperation through enhanced coordination in the context of establishing the new JICA in 2008; (b) make efforts to further cut down on costs according to types of aid not least through extended NGO participation; and (c) actively promote aid visibility.