Japan is willing to grant a debt moratorium for countries hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami and is also prepared to give more aid once the needs for rebuilding become clearer, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said on Wednesday. Tokyo has already promised $500 million, about a quarter of the total global aid pledges of $2.3 billion for a humanitarian relief operation that is the biggest since World War Two. "This is to meet emergency needs such as medical treatment of the injured, and food," Machimura told Reuters in an interview shortly before leaving for a tsunami crisis summit in Jakarta. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and other global leaders will attend the summit to discuss responses to the Dec. 26 quake-induced tsunami, which killed around 150,000 people and left millions homeless. "Once the emergency situation has passed, there will be considerable need for funds for basic reconstruction, and while assessing the (need) for further funds Japan would like to cooperate," he said. "It's not a matter of $500 million and that's the end."
