OSAKA, Japan -- The Osaka Gas Foundation of International Cultural Exchange (OGFICE) has announced its provision of educational assistance to Indonesia, Malaysia, and East Timor through assistance programs completed in fiscal 2016. Including this fiscal year's assistance amount of 23.66million yen, the foundation has provided a total of 480 million yen in assistance over the 25 years since its establishment in 1992.

Osaka Gas established OGFICE in 1992 in order to deepen mutual understanding between Japan and natural gas producing countries such as those situated in South East Asia.

In this fiscal year, the foundation provided a total of 12.91 million yen in aid to Indonesia in the form of school grants for educational equipment, scholarships for 300 students, research grants, training grants, and other assistance. Of these, research grants were provided to three universities, including the University of Indonesia, for use in research in the fields of energy and the environment.

Training assistance was provided to two graduate students of the University of Indonesia for short-term studies abroad for Japanese language^*1, and in addition a total of 47 staff from Terbuka University involved in the preparation of educational material were provided with training on developing media-based teaching materials.

For Malaysia, a total of 6.64 million yen in assistance was provided, which included grants to schools in remote locations of Sarawak for educational materials, research grants to Sarawak University, and scholarships awarded to 12 students.

For East Timor, in addition to a total of 1.71 million yen worth of scholarships for 30 students from the National University of East Timor, two lecturers from the same university were also provided with short-term training in Japan. These programs, which represent ongoing efforts by the foundation, are recognized as activities of an initiative designated the "2012 - Year of Friendship and Peace between Japan and East Timor," which commemorates the 10th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between East Timor and Japan^*2.

The foundation intends to continue engaging in activities aimed at promoting international exchange through educational assistance in regions such as South East Asia.

• *1 - A University student Japanese language training program which the foundation co-sponsors with the Japan Foundation.
• *2 - An initiative implemented in 2012 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the foreign ministries of East Timor and Japan.

FY 2016 Assistance Programs: Total of 23.66 million yen