Abe takes aid show to Africa

JAPAN takes its aid show to Africa this weekend, with a huge development conference in Kenya, hoping quality will trump quantity in the battle for influence against cash-rich China.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – fresh from an appearance as Super Mario at the Olympic Games in Rio – will meet with dozens of leaders from Africa in Nairobi.

Officials say the Japanese premier will use the two-day gathering to unveil aid and investment projects, including those related to healthcare.

Tokyo has a well-established presence in Africa, but its financial importance to the continent has long-since been eclipsed by regional rival China.

The world’s second-largest economy – a resource-hungry giant – recorded total trade with Africa of about $179-billion (R2.5trillion) last year, dwarfing Japan’s $24-billion (R339-billion).

“Japan has a sense of rivalry with China, which has provided large-sized assistance,” Tokyo University professor of regional development studies Koichi Sakamoto said.

“Since Japan can’t fight China in terms of amounts of cash, it needs to stress quality.”

This weekend’s meeting, which will be attended by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, among others, is the sixth edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or Ticad.

The forum was first convened in 1993 and, until now, has always been held in Japan.

The move to Africa this year came at the behest of the host continent, but reflects a drive to bolster Japanese clout as the modern-day scramble for Africa gathers momentum.

The European Union, China, India, South Korea, and Turkey have similar aid ventures to court African leaders as they look for a slice of the continent’s resources and its burgeoning markets. — AFP