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Japan suspends grants worth $ 30m

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said today that Japan will penalise India for its nuclear weapons tests by suspending grants worth $ 30 million.

Hashimoto announced the move by Japan, India's largest donor, at a news conference held several days before he leaves for Birmingham, England, where he reportedly plans to propose joint actions against India at a summit meeting of the leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised countries this weekend.

The Japanese prime minister announced the suspension of grants planned or being considered for India at a news conference held at his office. Foreign reporters were barred from attending it by the Japanese Press Club that organised it.

Following Hashimoto's news conference, a foreign ministry official said Japan would suspend a 400 million yen ($ 2.98 million) grant it was to give India to help it fight polio.

Another cancellation involves a proposed grant to help India modernise its hospitals. Japanese officials visiting Bombay to discuss the project are being called home, the official said on condition of anonymity, as ministry employees often do.

Although the official did not have details of all the existing or planned grants being stopped, he estimated that they would have been worth about 4 billion yen ($ 30 million).

UNI

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