Ambassador of Japan Masato Akasawa said that Japan is the principal donor of international funding to the DR. He said that 50% of the present collaborations the country receives come from Japan. Japan is investing in education, agriculture, infrastructure, health and technology projects. He spoke during a conference on Japan and Dominican Republic bilateral relations that took place at the UTECI, a La Vega-based university. The Ambassador justified the Japanese government efforts because of the surplus of Japanese exports to the DR. He said that Japanese experts that have worked in the DR say there are good perspectives to increase Dominican exports. "Jamaican coffee is a popular Japanese import and a large percentage of that coffee is Dominican. People think the coffee they are drinking is Jamaican, but it is really Dominican," he said. He would like to see Dominican coffee exports sold in Japan as Dominican coffee, for instance. He expected relations to strengthen following the visit of President Fernandez to Japan in February of this year.
