Sustainable development goals and Japan: Sustainability overshadows poverty reduction

The Development Cooperation Charter of Japan, which replaced the Official Development Assistance (ODA) Charter in February 2015, drives the country’s cooperation towards non-poor countries and non-poverty issues. The Sustainable Development Goals put Japan forward in these directions. As a result, the country’s focus on global poverty reduction is overshadowed by its national interests and sustainability under the concept of universality, which is a core principle of the Goals and differentiates them from the Millennium Development Goals.