We have discovered that there are numerous organizations involved in supporting construction of new legal frameworks in Asian countries. We are talking to the Ministry of Justice concerning ways to unify all these since it is not worthwhile to duplicate efforts or provide assistance on an individual basis. For instance, the University of Waseda and China's Institute of Social Science are in the process of translating Japanese laws into Chinese. There are other universities that are handling various projects, such as the University of Kyushu and the University of Nagoya.
Moreover, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations International Exchange Meeting deals with legal technical assistance. Although Law Asia is also involved, since many of its members overlap with our Foundation, we have decided to work with one another. Furthermore, many law firms are dealing with the subject. We are hoping these law firms will join our Foundation activities.

Mr. Kaneko hopes that there will eventually be a system that allows Japanese legal professionals to practice internationally so that relationships with other Asian countries will expand and deepen.

For example, in the U.S., there are numerous foundations which send attorneys to Indonesia and Mongolia to assist in social reform efforts.
Although JICA has dispatched Mr. Shiro Muto, an attorney, to Vietnam's Ministry of Justice as part of a long-term assistance project, it is difficult for a practicing attorney to be away from his practice for such a long time. I think that there should be some support system which would allow a long term absence. I hope the Foundation would one day be able to support these attorneys.

The Foundation is also involved in various other projects related to legal technical assistance. There are projects in cooperation with JICA and the Ministry of Justice and projects with which will we proceed on our own.
However, to expand our sphere of activity, obtaining additional financing is an absolute condition.

Our main source of revenue is membership fees. Since our economy is in recession, securing new sources of funds is very difficult. One method is to receive donations from corporations. I think we need to consider a variety of solutions in securing new sources of funding, such as cooperating with other organizations. For instance, the Ministry of Education has a budget for foreign exchange students studying in Japan. We hope that some of these students will study law in Japan and use the knowledge gained in their own countries. This would be most beneficial to Japan over the long-term.

Even within MITI's Overseas Assistance Cooperation Fund, there is a new project developing for legal technical assistance. I have heard that they are convening symposiums in China, Indonesia and Thailand. We welcome the fact that MITI has become involved in economic related law and we hope we can be of assistance to this project.