E/C.12/JPN/CO /3 31. The Committee thanks the State party for the information provided during the dialogue on the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications. In this context, the Committee requests the State party to include in its next periodic report more detailed information and specific examples on how this right is being implemented in practice (art. 15). 32. The Committee, while acknowledging the contribution of the State party to official development assistance, encourages it to expeditiously increase the level of its contribution with a view to achieving the international standard target of 0.7 per cent, and to pursue a human rights-based approach in its development cooperation policy in which the rights contained in the Covenant are fully incorporated. 33. The Committee requests the State party to include in its next periodic report sufficiently disaggregated statistical data on the fulfilment of its Covenant obligations. 34. The Committee encourages the State party to withdraw its reservations to articles 7(d) and 8, paragraph 1 (d), of the Covenant. 35. The Committee encourages the State party to consider signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 36. The Committee requests the State party to disseminate these concluding observations widely at all levels of society, and particularly among public officials, judicial authorities and civil society organizations, and to inform the Committee in its next periodic report of the steps taken to implement them. It also encourages the State party to continue to engage civil society organizations , including those which have manifested their interest in the review of the present report, in the discussions to be held at the national level prior to the submission of its next periodic report. 37. The Committee requests the State party to submit its next periodic report in accordance with the guidelines adopted by the Committee in 2008 (E/C.12/2008/2), by 31 May 2018. 8