Abe also announced the launching of the Japan-Africa economic forum, adding that Japanese government officials and top business leaders will be visiting the continent every three years.
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The conference that ended on Sunday at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi was the first to be held in Africa, Tokyo has hosted the last five events.
That figure includes $9 billion yet to be spent from pledges made at the previous TICAD conference in 2013.
The prime minister said Tokyo would commit $10 billion (8.9 billion euros), starting this year, to develop Africa’s infrastructure.
Resource-poor Japan has always been keen on tapping Africa’s vast natural resources, even more so since dependence on oil and natural gas imports jumped after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster shut nearly all its nuclear reactors.
The nation will work with the African Development Bank to boost private sector investment on the continent struggling with intermittent power outages, dilapidated infrastructure, poor sanitation and grinding poverty.
To do this, Japan has organized a trade show scheduled in Nairobi, Kenya. The US, on the hand, said it would give US$14 billion at the US-Africa Leaders Summit in 2014.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday that Japan wanted to sell its own intentions to African countries and had attempted to sow discord between China and Africa.
It’s an historic occasion, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters here Friday.
Some of the African presidents present at the 6 TICAD were Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia among others.
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He said that he had come with a delegation of about 1,000 businesspeople from Japan’s top 75 companies, all of whom have a strong interest in Africa’s growth, including the chairman of the Japan Business Federation, Sadayuki Sakakibara.
