Japan pledges $30bn for Africa
Infrastructure aid will finance power generation and supply
JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has unveiled a $30 billion fund for Africa’s development at the sixth summit of the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD) in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Abe told 30 African leaders at the conference Japan had earmarked $10bn for infrastructure on the continent and part of the money would be disbursed through the African Development Bank over the next three years. That money would be in the form of grants or concessional loans to select African countries.
Japan would train and develop the capacities of at least 10 million Africans over the next three years to ensure the continent had the right people to spur development.
“When combined with investment from the private sector, I expect the total will amount to $30bn. This is an investment that (shows Japan) has faith in Africa’s future; an investment for both Africa and Japan to grow together,” he said.
The infrastructure aid would finance power generation and supply, urban transport, and road and port construction.
Geothermal and solar power generation were also among the key industries that Japan and Japanese businessmen who accompanied Abe wanted to invest in the continent.
“A quality Africa will be built through the three elements of infrastructure, human resources, and Kaizen (a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices, personal efficiency, and productivity),” said Abe.
The goal was to increase by 30 percent the productivity in African countries where Kaizen was implemented.
At least 1 500 African foremen, plant managers, and engineers would be trained in Japan so that when they returned home they would help boost efficiency and productivity in their own countries.
Thirty African leaders, many representatives of multilateral organisations, AU representatives, and World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim are attending the summit.
AU chairman and Chad’s President Idriss Deby said Japan had to pump money into developing Africa’s “energy, water, health, environment, agriculture, infrastructure, and industrialisation”. Japan had been involved in projects in these fields through its Japan International Co-operation Agency.
“We hope that the declaration and the implementation plan that is going to be adopted during the course of this summit will give stronger impetus to our partnerships at a time when a number of African countries are experiencing extremely difficult and critical times due to the multiple shocks that their economies have to face due to the low prices of raw materials, security crises, and the consequences of climate change,” said Deby.
Abe said Japan would allocate $500 million through the Global Fund and the World Bank to fight infectious diseases and improve health care in the continent.
That announcement dovetails with Friday’s announcement that the World Bank and the Global Fund had released a total of $24bn for health-care reforms.
Japan also promised to train experts in combating infectious diseases in the continent: “A resilient Africa is one that does not capitulate in the face of illness,” said Abe.
Jim said the World Bank had a 5-year plan to spend $15bn on universal health coverage. For every $1 donors gave for developing countries, the World Bank would give $3.
The Global Fund pledged a further $9bn from next year until the end of 2019 with $6bn of investments in programmes to treat and prevent HIV, TB and malaria, and also $3bn of investments in systems for health, such as strengthened procurement and supply chains, improved data quality and data management systems. – ANA