TICADVI: The Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development

JICA

JICA President Shinichi Kitaoka gives a speech at a TICAD VI Side-event

On August 28, the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICADVI) came to a close in Nairobi, Kenya, after two days of events and more than 3,000 participants, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and more than 35 heads of states. At the end of the summit, the Nairobi Declaration was adopted as the outcome of the series of discussions that had taken place. In addition to the main events at this first TICAD summit meeting in Africa, JICA held 18 official side events and supported another 8 side events hosted by other institutions over the four days from August 25 to 28. JICA will continue contributing to development in Africa by supporting Africa’s initiatives based on the Nairobi Declaration.

1. The Nairobi Declaration and Japan’s assistance package for Africa
The Nairobi Declaration identifies three priority areas for addressing newly emerging challenges in Africa’s development as follows:
i) Promoting Structural Economic Transformation through Economic Diversification and Industrialization,
ii) Promoting Resilient Health Systems for Quality of Life, and
iii) Promoting Social Stability for Shared Prosperity

As the first step for taking specific actions to support these priority areas, the Government of Japan announced an assistance package for Africa over the next three years (2016 to 2018) in the amount of 3 trillion yen (equivalent to 30 billion US dollars) to be financed by both the public and private sectors.
While continuing to contribute to achieve the targets set at TICADV, JICA will, as a major development partners, contribute to Japan’s new assistance package to support the following areas:
i) Expanding the amount of finance of EPSA (Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa) up to more than USD 33 hundred million by co-financing with African Development Bank (AfDB)
ii) Development of human resource engaging in industrial activities by continuing the program of ‘’ABE initiative’’ and implementing newly launched KAIZEN initiative
iii) Support in health sector through the promotion of universal health coverage (UHC) and newly launched ‘’Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa’’ (IFNA)

2. The side events hosted by JICA and JICA’s messages to Africa, Japan and the world at large
From August 25 to 28, JICA organized 18 side events focusing on the above three priority areas of TICADVI and the newly emerging challenges facing Africa, Japan and the international community. In addition to the areas of agriculture, health, industrial development, the promotion of trade and the global environment, which JICA will continuously support, active discussion was held with participants in the areas of nutrition, women’s empowerment and the role of the Japanese private sector in African development.

For a high-level panel discussion held on August 28 in Kenyatta International Convention Centre and moderated by JICA President Shinichi Kitaoka, JICA invited a number of eminent panelists to discuss the topic ”Africa, toward 2063 and beyond.” They are: Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, and Prof. Joseph Stiglitz, of Columbia University, a Nobel Prize winner in Economics.

The year of 2063 is the target year of “Agenda 2063,” which is the African Union’s long-term development vision for the upcoming decades. With long-term perspectives, each of the panelists raised various key issues and challenges for Africa’s development agenda through the mid-21st century, such as the transformation and diversification of Africa’s economic structure, the education and empowerment of African youth and women, how to deepen the political and economic partnerships between Africa and Japan, and the future role and contribution of Africa in the international community.

Mr. Kitaoka summarized one of the discussions in which it was found that, in the coming decades, Africa can and should be a genuine partner of Japan and the international community in both political and economic terms. He emphasized that the partnerships between Africa, Japan and the rest of the world should be equal, comprehensive and mutually respectful, and to this end, Africa needs continuous support from Japan and the world while Africa’s partners need Africa to implement initiatives to turn its potential into reality. He concluded by declaring that as “Agenda 2063” is the most important initiative to realizing Africa’s potential, JICA will, as one of the most important partners for Africa, provide continuous support for Africa’s efforts as agreed to in the Nairobi Declaration.

The official side events that JICA organized were focused on a range of themes, including affordable and clean energy, market-oriented agriculture, boosting trade, universal health coverage, food security and nutrition, science and technology cooperation, peace and resilience, combating desertification, and the role of the Japanese private sector in African development. JICA also took an active role in leading the discussions for addressing the newly emerging challenges of Africa. During the event, JICA made it clear to Africa and the international community that it will continue to support Africa’s development efforts in the priority areas agreed to in the Nairobi Declaration by implementing the commitments Japan made at TICADVI. In broad partnerships with various stakeholders, such as African governments, private sector, international organizations, developed and emerging countries, civil societies, scholars, JICA will proactively provide cooperation for tackling with the newly emerging development challenges in Africa.