The Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) kicked off on Wednesday in Yokohama, Japan, co chaired by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The conference is one of the most important international forums for cooperation in development between Africa, Japan and international institutions.
African heads of states including Somali President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, and a number of representatives from international organizations and institutions led by the United Nations and the World Bank are taking part in the conference.
The conference will focus on various important events, including the second session of the public-private seminar on high-quality infrastructure between Japan and Africa to be organized by the Japanese ministries of Territorial Development, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
This year’s edition of the conference will discuss accelerating economic transformation, improving the business and investment environment through the private sector’s involvement, building sustainable societies and establishing the foundations of security and stability within the African continent.
About 40 African countries are expected to participate, represented by presidents and prime ministers, including Somalia, Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Gabon and South Africa.
The conference is co-organized by the Government of Japan, the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, the United Nations Development Program, the African Union Commission and the World Bank.
The conference aims at promoting high-level political dialogue between African leaders and their counterparts, mobilizing support for Africa’s development initiatives, providing basic and comprehensive guidelines on African development, creating a key international framework to facilitate the implementation of development initiatives in cooperation with international partners, and focusing cooperation between Asia and Africa to promote Africa’s development.
