03 Jul 2016

The 6^th meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) billed for August is expected to strengthen the relationship between Japan and Africa.

This was said by the Japanese ambassador Mr Masahiro Onishi at a press briefing which was organised by the embassy recently.

He said TICAD VI will be held in Kenya, led by Japan, and co-hosted by the United Nations, World Bank as well as the African Union Commission. TICAD is a summit-level forum for African development, which was established in 1993 by Japanese initiative.

He explained that TICAD provided an open forum for innovative discussions on Africa development together with other countries and stakeholders adding that it also advocated for the importance of African ownership and international partnership which lead to the New Partnership for Africa Development.

“The purpose of TICAD is to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners. It has provided a fundamental and comprehensive policy as well as guidelines on African development,” he said.

“Japan host TICAD conferences every after five years, from TICAD I to V; however, from 2016 onwards, TICAD will be held every three years, hosted alternately in Africa and Japan. This was in response to a request from the African side,” he said.

With regard to the relationship with TICAD V, Mr Onishi said Yokohama Declaration and Yokohama Action Plan adopted at TICAD V was still valid at the time of the TICAD VI.

“Africa Aid Package announced at TICAD VI continues to be implemented as African Aid Package is a five-year US$32 billion package to support infrastructure development and boost economic growth in Africa,” he said. He explained the priority areas and specific actions of the TICAD VI should be promoting economic structural reform through economic diversification and industrialisation by supporting construction of high-quality infrastructure, food value chain, and renewable energy.ENDS

 “TICAD has benefitted many societies in Africa by its advanced technologies of Japanese companies as well as its human resource training culture,” he said. ENDS