Sudan and Japan have signed a $13 million grant agreement for the improvement of water facilities in Kassala, a city in the northeastern part of the African country.
The agreement was signed in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, by Japanese Ambassador Akinori Wada and Sudanese Minister of International Cooperation Jalal Yousif Al-Degair, according to the Sudan News Agency.
Japan has signed and approved several grants and loans to developing countries in Asia and Africa over the past few weeks despite the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that analysts said would cost its economy billions of dollars. The country has also assured other aid-recipient countries of continued assistance.
However, the Japanese government is now reportedly considering slashing its foreign aid budget for fiscal 2011 by 20 percent to support local relief and rehabilitation efforts.
>> Quake-hit Japan Mulls Diverting Some Foreign Aid Money to Domestic Rehabilitation
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