7th Tokyo International Confab on African Development opens today

For the next three days, the attention of Africa will be on the Japanese city of Yokohama, where Heads of State and Government of the continent and other delegations from across the world have gathered for the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7) which opens today.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is among African leaders attending the conference, on the theme: "Advancing Africa's development through people, technology and innovation".

The Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Shinzo Abe, who will open the conference, is expected to announce far-reaching initiatives to drive the course of Africa's development.

Purpose of TICAD 7

Japan wants to take its relationship with Africa to another level and TICAD 7 is considered a good avenue to kick-start the objective.

Among others, Japan will use TICAD 7 to support further growth in Africa through the building of infrastructure and human resource development, which are foundations for growth.

The Asian giant will also lead international discussions on African development.

TICAD 6 was held in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 27 and 28, 2016 — the first time the summit was held in Africa since its inception in 1993.

At that conference, Prime Minister Abe announced the "investment for the future of Africa" support amounting to $30 billion through public-private partnerships for a period of three years from 2016 to 2018 to tackle infrastructure and human resource development.

Today, the Prime Minister is expected to explain how that three-year support initiative was carried through.

Ghana-Japan agreements

President Akufo-Addo will make a statement at the plenary session.

According to the Japanese Embassy in Ghana, Japan would sign a number of co-operation agreements with Ghana at the summit.

The agreements will cover areas such as health, railways, roads, lands and natural resources.

Media briefing

Briefing 32 African journalists invited for the conference in Tokyo yesterday, the Deputy Assistant Minister, African Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Mr Masahiko Kiya, said the conference would further project Japan-Africa relations.

"This is the TICAD of business and innovation," he said in reference to the theme.

The minister mentioned economy, peace and stability as some of the sectors key to Africa's development and which, therefore, would be discussed at the conference.

According to Mr Kiya, the future of Japan-Africa relations was targeted at supporting Africa-led initiatives.

"So the Japanese government is going to announce more support at this conference," he added.