The 6 Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) was held in Nairobi, Kenya, over the weekend.
Advertisement
African leaders along with their Japanese counterparts have pledged to tame the rising threat of terrorism, while emphasising the importance of maritime order, as they concluded an global conference on Sunday, Japan Today reports. The US, on the hand, said it would give US$14 billion at the US-Africa Leaders Summit in 2014.
Japan’s overall direct investment in Africa totaled $1.24 billion in 2015, down from about $1.5 billion a year earlier, according to the Japan External Trade Organization.
Japan’s direct investment into Africa has been overshadowed by China, who made a $2 billion single investment to build a hydropower dam in Equatorial Guinea in April, previous year to double the nation’s energy production capacity.
Japan has the pledged Ksh 10 billion grant to Kenya to go to economic and social development programmes in the country.
It was the first meeting to be held in Africa, with the first meeting in Tokyo agreed that TICAD summit will swap between African countries and Japan.
At the last TICAD in 2013, Japan pledged $32 billion in development aid to Africa.
China on Monday criticised Japan for creating discord in resource-rich Africa where the two countries are competing for influence.
Abe will use the conference to meet dozens of leaders from across Africa, among them Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma.
Advertisement
Following the talks, Abe and Kenyatta released a joint statement that noted the expansion of bilateral trade and investment, and Japan’s exports of “quality infrastructure” leading to job creation and capacity-building in Kenya.
