According to Bloomberg, Abe’s promised investment of $30 billion at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Kenya is meant to show his “faith in Africa’s future”.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the fund will be used to build infrastructure such as hospitals, roads and energy generation facilities.
“Japan will extend grant aid for economic and social development amounting to one billion yen”, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a joint statement late on Sunday.
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He also said China made great achievements in terms of cooperation with Africa, becoming its biggest trade partner.
Japan’s development conference comes as African leaders increasingly turn to countries like China and Japan for assistance with development initiatives.
The Kenyan leader said part of the focus of the conference would be diversification, the preservation of the environment and the resilience of African health systems. The U.S., on the hand, said it would give $14 billion at the U.S. -Africa Leaders Summit in 2014.
Mr Abe said 67 per cent of that had already been put to use in various projects.
“Development is not something that will happen to Africa, it is Africans themselves who will win the freedom and prosperity they deserve”. “The key to economic growth is industrialisation”.
The Deputy Chairperson pointed out that TICAD process lies within the purview of Agenda 2063 and underscored that the Senior Official’s Meeting will not just revisit previous decisions and their implementation, but will also cover additional priorities in prepararatio for the meeting of the Ministers scheduled to take place on 26 August 2016. In this respect, Tokyo will cooperate with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to boost private sector investment on the continent struggling with intermittent power outages, dilapidated infrastructure, poor sanitation and grinding poverty.
“We stress the importance of promoting regional and worldwide efforts related to maritime security, including piracy, illegal fishing and other maritime crimes, maintaining a rules-based maritime order in accordance with the principles of global law”, the Nairobi Declaration said.
The move to Africa this year came at the behest of the host continent, but also reflects a drive to bolster Japanese clout as the modern-day Scramble for Africa gathers momentum.
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The summit identified major emerging challenges in Africa wይhich are decline of commodity price, Ebola outbreak, radicalization, terrorism, armed conflict and climate change.
