Japan pledges $30 billion for Africa at TICAD conference

By Yosra Ounas

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) – Japan on Saturday pledged $30 billion to the African continent as part of a development conference in the Tunisian capital.

Earlier Saturday, the 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8) opened in Tunis, with the participation of officials, businessmen and NGOs from 48 countries.

Addressing the two-day conference via video-conference, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the amount pledged will be provided over three years and will cover the fields of health, education, human resources, agriculture and encouraging startup projects.

He said Japan seeks to be a partner for Africa to overcome challenges.

Tunisian President Kais Saied earlier called during the opening session of the event for developing new mechanisms to achieve development in the African continent.

He said TICAD summit will seek to “look for methods to enable African nations to achieve their hopes, aspirations and dreams.”

Among the 300 participants in the TICAD 8, there are 100 Japanese participants representing 50 big economic companies, in addition to 100 participants from Africa and 100 others from Tunisia.

The TICAD platform was initiated by Japan in 1993 to address challenges of development in Africa. The last TICAD conference was held in 2019 after which it was interrupted due to the coronavirus outbreak.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar