TOKYO —

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Friday that up to 150 Syrians will be allowed to enter Japan over the next five academic years to study at universities, as part of the government’s efforts to help refugees in the war-torn Middle East country.

Abe also pledged a total of some $7.1 billion in official development assistance to support Middle East countries affected by the refugee crisis and to strengthen the global healthcare system, including responses to the outbreak of pandemics.

The plans were unveiled ahead of the Group of Seven summit next week in central Japan, at which Abe lead talks on the refugee crisis in the Middle East and global health, among other economic and political issues.

“As the chair of the summit, I will call on leaders of the G-7 countries to make ambitious efforts (to achieve) SDGs,” Abe said in the first gathering of a new Cabinet meeting launched Friday, referring to sustainable development goals, a set of 17 goals adopted at a U.N. summit last September to improve development around the globe.

The meeting was created to push Japan’s implementation of the SDGs, which include numerical targets to be cleared by 2030.

The plan to take in Syrians was announced as Japan is often criticized for admitting only very small numbers of refugees. In 2015, the Ministry of Justice received a total of 7,586 asylum applications from around the world, but approved only 27, far fewer than many other developed countries.

Under the new plan, Japan will offer education to Syrians through existing schemes such as government-sponsored scholarship programs and technical cooperation projects organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Japan’s previous assistance to refugees came in the form of financial contributions to countries that have accepted large numbers of Syrian refugees, namely Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.

Of the $7.1 billion, $6 billion will be disbursed over the three years from 2016 to stabilize the Middle East, including training assistance for about 20,000 people. The remainder will be offered to fund measures by international health organizations to tackle pandemics and promote vaccination programs.

Abe also unveiled Japan’s plans to empower women in developing countries. He said Tokyo aims to improve the education environment for around 50,000 women and provide training to around 5,000 women seeking to work as public officials.

The G-7 summit will bring together the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States as well as the European Union.

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