SA-Japan ties set for major boost
Zuma to meet Abe at summit
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma will attend the 6th Summit of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) taking place in Nairobi tomorrow and Sunday. Zuma and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are scheduled to hold bilateral talks prior to the summit.
TICAD VI is significant as it is the first TICAD summit to be hosted on the African continent, and Abe will be accompanied by approximately 140 Japanese companies which will participate in a business fair and numerous side events. Japan’s focus in terms of supporting Africa’s development will be to assist in the creation of high-quality infrastructure, support to the health sector, and the advancement of peace and security on the continent. Japan’s approach to the continent is one of “equal partners”, with a long-term view of the continent’s development.
Last year, Abe’s office established an African economic strategy, which stipulated that all Japanese government ministries must use their resources to contribute towards economic aid to the African continent. The prime minister has been proactive in building his own foreign affairs team, headed by a special adviser on foreign affairs, Kawai Katsuyuki, who recently visited Kenya and South Africa in preparation for the TICAD Summit.
Katsuyuki and his delegation of senior government officials also made a special visit to Mozambique recently, where Japan is co-operating with the Mozambican government in the development of the port sector.
It was Abe’s initiative to invite African youths to Japan to study, and he has strongly supported vocational training on the continent, which will also enable these youths to work for Japanese companies based in Africa. Currently there are 47 South African students studying in Japan. Japan has also been involved in building schools in various African countries.
Japanese investment in Africa has focused to a large extent on English-speaking countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa. The TICAD process was initiated in 1993 as an advocacy platform for African development, specifically aimed at mobilising humanitarian aid and Official Development Assistance (ODA). Since 2008, the partnership has focused on reinventing itself to become a more dynamic, results-oriented mechanism, reflecting the positive developments and progress being made across Africa.
The focus of this weekend’s summit will be on advancing Africa’s development agenda by bringing together heads of state and government, leading industrialists, top business executives, and heads of business associations from Africa and Japan. The objective is to promote high-level policy dialogue between these leaders and to mobilise support for African-owned development initiatives such as the AU’s Agenda 2063.
Japan has been a major Asian project sponsor in Africa over the past 10 years with the amount of Japanese project finance commitments over the 10 years since 2005, totalling US$33.5 billion (R474.6bn).
Japan has also been actively involved in advancing peace and security on the continent with its forces participating in the UN peace mission in South Sudan, its Self-Defence Force involved in anti-piracy efforts off the coast of Somalia, and peace-building on the ground in Somalia.
While Japan does not intend to focus on industrialisation or beneficiation on the continent, its efforts to develop infrastructure, improve education and develop the health sector have been welcomed by South Africa which is currently Japan’s largest trade partner on the African continent. It is estimated that about 140 Japanese firms employing over 140 000 South Africans are operating in the country.
Zuma is being accompanied to the TICAD Summit by Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies; Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi; Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor; Minister of Public Service and Administration Ngoako Ramatlhodi, and the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Nomaindiya Mfeketo.