Japanese to provide more scholarships

Press, 15 January 1985, Page 13

Japanese to provide more scholarships

NZJN-Reuter Tokyo The Japanese Government plans to increase the number of university scholarships it offers each year to New Zealand students, says a front-page report in J'apan’s biggestselling newspaper, the “Yomiuri Shimbun.” “Yomiuri,” in a report on the visit to New Zealand

next week of the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Yasuhiro Nakasone, did not say how many more scholarships Japan was likely to offer. According to the Japanese Education Ministry, which administers the grants, 19 scholarships were offered to New Zealand students in 1983, 13 in 1982

and 16 in 1981. Japan will also offer about SNZB.3 million to Fiji to finance a school for the handicapped and educational equipment for the South Pacific University, “Yomiuri” said. The Japanese Foreign Ministry is emphasising the “cultural exchange” value of the Nakasone visit, which diplomatic observers in Tokyo interpret as meaning Japan does not wish the visit to be clouded by reference to trade issues which would embarrass Japan. New Zealand has put before the Japanese Government a list of relatively minor barriers some New Zealand products still face in Japan, in the hope that the Japanese Government will use the Nakasone visit as an opportunity to grant some concessions.

One request is for the removal of the 5 per cent import duty levied on New Zealand methanol, which New Zealand views as discriminatory. Japan charges no duty on Saudi Arabian methanol, for example, because it classifies that country as a “developing nation.”

Other requests seek an easing of tough airport quarantine procedures for some New Zealand horticultural produce, more rapid airport inspection, and easing of tariffs against New Zealand fish and forest products. — Copyright, New Zealand Japan News.