Paris, January 10 (No.2001-1) - Japan will finance - through new funds-in-trust dedicated to capacity building of human resources - the UNESCO/Keizo Obuchi Research Fellowship Programme that will award 20 fellowships of US$7,500 each to young researchers over 2001 and the same amount in 2002.

The programme - named after late Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi known for his commitment to development issues who died in May 2000 - will award fellowships to researchers active in one of four fields: the environment, inter-cultural dialogue, information and communication technologies and peaceful conflict resolution.

The programme will cover a period of three and a half years and will involve a total of nearly US$396,000. Fellowship applications must be made by March 15, 2000, and must not exceed two per country. Candidates - post-graduate researchers from developing countries - will be selected by their country’s National Commission for UNESCO and proposed to the Director-General by a Special Selection Committee of experts in the four fields concerned.

****