TICAD8 To Shore Up Japanese-Africa Economic Cooperation

Posted by Eric Ojo Asia, Latest Headlines Friday, August 26th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Ahead of the upcoming 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8), there are clear indications that the event will further boost Japanese-Africa economic cooperation.

Running from 27 to 28 August, TICAD8 which be held in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, will bring together delegates from across the continent, including the African Development Bank Group.

Notably, in this year’s edition of the event, Japan, a long-time development partner of Africa, continues to lend its economic weight to the continent’s progress.
Japan, according to a statement made available to the media on Thursday, is expected to offer further support to strengthen the development of communication infrastructure on the continent and to help address food security.

“Through continued cooperation with Japan, the African Development Bank Group continues to promote strong, inclusive, and sustainable growth in Africa”, the statement said.

The event is co-organized by the Japanese government, the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, the United Nations Development Programme, the African Union Commission, and the World Bank.

In addition, the Bank Group will play a key role in the eighth edition of TICAD and they will be co-organizing several official side events during the event, some of which will be virtual. All main TICAD8 events will be in-person gatherings.

The Bank Group President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina will deliver a keynote statement during TICAD8 plenary on Economy. Dr. Adesina will also deliver keynote remarks at TICAD8 Business Forum.

He will equally meet with senior Japanese government officials, African leaders, and business participants. Discussions will cover partnership opportunities to increase support for Africa’s transformation as the continent builds back better from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Japanese government and the Bank enjoy a privileged relationship. Japan is one of the largest contributors to the institution. It recently participated in the 15th replenishment of the African Development Fund, the Bank Group’s concessional lending arm, and in the Bank’s 7th General Capital Increase.

Japan and the Bank spearheaded the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa initiative. It is the largest and longest-standing bilateral partnership that the African Development Bank Group has with any of its member countries.

Moreover, the four components of this assistance are: accelerated co-financing; non-sovereign loans; the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance, and the Private Sector Investment Finance scheme. These four components support the implementation of the African Development Bank’s private sector development strategy.

The Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa initiative has been successfully implemented over three phases from 2007. Over the years, the Bank and Japan—through the Japan International Cooperation Agency—have contributed approximately $5.2 billion to investments in sovereign operations and non-sovereign operations.

They have also invested $86.9 million in technical assistance and capacity building. The fifth phase of EPSA is being negotiated and will be announced during TICAD8.

The Bank promotes development agendas aligned with the Japanese government to facilitate food security, climate change, health, digitalization and debt management across Africa.