Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Japan has decided to accept 30 Burmese refugees languishing in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. The decision makes Japan the first Asian country to accept Burmese refugees.

The Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso during a cabinet meeting on Thursday agreed to accept 30 Burmese refugees to Japan in the fiscal year 2010.

"They are about 30 Burmese refugees from the Thai-Myanmar [Burma] border. The government is still discussing details on how it will handle the programme and the procedure to follow," Mr. Tanaka, First Secretary at the political section in the Japanese Embassy in Thailand, told Mizzima.

During the cabinet meeting, Japanese legal experts, officials at the foreign ministry, along with nine other ministries and other agencies held discussions on the procedure of accepting the refugees and the assistance that needs to be provided.

According to Tanaka, the Burmese refugees would be accepted in two batches of 15 people each beginning 2010. Besides, the Japanese government will continue providing assistance in language lessons and professional training to enable the refugees to start a new life.

The Japanese government has been considering taking Burmese refugees since February, he added.

Japan now becomes the first Asian country to accept Burmese refugees, who have earlier been resettled in United States, Canada, Australia and European countries, through the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

Besides, it is also a sign of a policy shift in Japan, which rarely allows refugees to be resettled in their country.

According to the UNHCR's survey in early 2008, there were at least 140,000 Burmese refugees in nine camps along the Thai-Burma border, while at least 10,000 have been resettled in France, 6,000 in England, and over 20,000 in the US.

In New Delhi capital of India there are at least 2,500 Burmese refugees.