The two governments came up with the project as both Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama have pledged to boost measures aimed at improving opportunities for women in society.
Working-level officials from Japan and the United States will thrash out details possibly later this month about the envisioned project including aid to female entrepreneurs, hoping to launch it later this year at the earliest, the officials said.
The two sides are considering expanding occupational training facilities for women, helping entrepreneurs, improving women's access to medical services and enabling more girls to go to school, among other measures, they said.
Catherine Russell, U.S. ambassador for global women's issues, expressed hope for close cooperation with Japan in the field, telling Kyodo News, "I think we would see Japan as a wonderful partner in many places."
Abe pledged in his speech at the U.N. General Assembly in September an official development aid package worth more than $3 billion over three years to help empower women.
Obama's administration focuses on areas along the Mekong River in the empowerment of women and has sounded out Tokyo about cooperation in Cambodia and Myanmar, the officials said.
"There's a lot of data to show that if the women do well, their families do well. And if the families do well, their communities do well," said Russell who heads the Office of Global Women's Issue of the State Department.
"We look for opportunities to give them either small loans or training so that they have opportunities to start businesses," she said.
Russell also said many people in the Mekong region regard Japan as "a leader" and "it makes obvious sense for Japan to take a leadership role there."
The Japanese and U.S. governments -- which last Monday in Yokohama held a symposium on the empowerment of women, inviting female entrepreneurs from Africa -- plan to narrow the focus of their measures in the continent, according to the officials.
They are slated to hold an international conference with a similar theme in March in Papua New Guinea.
source: Global Post
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