Japan is now making final arrangements to provide US$1.5 billion in grants for helping rebuild Iraq in 2004, the first year of a four-year period during which it may contribute up to US$5 billion in total.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will step up efforts to decide on the amount before the planned visit Friday by US President George W. Bush.

Koizumi was quoted by Kyodo News that before meeting with Bush, he will also mull a possible city in Iraq for Japan's dispatch of Self-Defense Forces (SDF) troops.

The Japanese government initially considered providing US$2 billion in grants for 2004, but the Finance Ministry expressed reservations over the amount, given Japan's tight fiscal situation.

Koizumi is expected to brief Bush on Japan's contribution to Iraq's rehabilitation at their meeting in Tokyo on Friday evening.

Japan will announce its contribution amount at an international donors' meeting in Madrid on Oct. 23-24.

Meanwhile, Japan is now considering deploying SDF troops in a southern Iraqi city, either Nasiriya or Samawa, with relatively stable security to provide the war-torn country with reconstruction assistance.

The government will draw up a basic plan for the dispatch after choosing the city.

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2003)