The heads of states and government of African countries and Japan, representatives of other partner countries, leaders of global and regional organizations, private sector and civil societies’ representatives met in Nairobi, Kenya from 27 to 28 August 2016 for the 6th Tokyo worldwide Conference on African Development (TICAD-VI).
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As for investment in infrastructure, Japan hopes to distinguish its aid in the region from that of China through the promotion of “quality infrastructure”, Japanese officials said. He said Africa had a right to demand the worldwide community better reflect its views, adding that Africa should send a permanent member to the Security Council by 2023 at the very latest.
He said Japan had also vowed to aid Kenya in tackling terrorism.
On Saturday, Abe had told African leaders at a development conference that Japan would commit $30 billion in public and private support for infrastructure development, education and healthcare expansion in the continent over a three-year period starting in 2016.
The 6th Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD, has ended its two-day conference on Sunday in the capital Nairobi.
Kenya is the first African country to host the event attended by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and numerous heads of state and government.
It has the capacity of positively impacting on the lives of common citizens with the prudent use of the billions of shillings Japan has pledged to give Kenya in support of various development initiatives.
Sumitomo Mitsui has also signed a business partnership with the African Development Bank and Banco de Desenvolvimento de Angola.
The world’s second-largest economy – a resource-hungry giant – recorded total trade with Africa of about US$179 billion in 2015, dwarfing Japan’s approximately US$24 billion.
“The wealthiest countries today, with very few exceptions, got rich by trading with others”, President Uhuru Kenyatta said at the conference. “Yet there is now a trend among many countries to turn toward more isolationist or grossly unfair positions on trade”.
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He further stated that the federal government will take concrete measures to diversify the economy by devoting more resources to agriculture in the 2017 budget, pointing out that African countries had a lot to learn from Japan in developing their agriculture.
