ABSTRACT
Japan, a country poor in natural resources, has grown to be what it is today on the strength of its human resources. It has attached paramount importance to education as the basis of development. My government, together with Japanese non-governmental organizations, has proposed that the United Nations declare a “Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.” We shall provide no less than 250 billion yen in education assistance over a five-year period. (Speech by Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 9 February 2002)
