Policy Speech by Professor Keizo Takemi, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Japan
"African Development in the New Millennium and the Role of Japan"

May 5, 1999
University of Pretoria

Professor Erasmus, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice Principal of University of Pretoria,
Mr. P. J. Botha, Chairman of African-Asian Society,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the African-Asian Society and the University of Pretoria for giving me this opportunity to speak today. I used to be a professor at a university in Japan, so I am quite comfortable standing behind a lectern. Nevertheless, it gives me special joy to be able to speak here at the distinguished University of Pretoria, and to feel so keenly that South Africa is steadily moving forward as a true "Rainbow Nation."

South Africa has realized a state of coexistence amid cultural, racial, and religious diversity, which is indeed a precious achievement in the history of mankind. Of course, the path has not always been a smooth one. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere respect for President Mandela, a man of indomitable spirit and great leadership who has stood at the vanguard of South Africa's progress. And I firmly believe that the younger generation will take South Africa's extraordinary experiences in nation-building as its own and move forward.

(Growing relationship between South Africa and Japan)

Ladies and gentlemen,

What interests South Africans most at present is probably the upcoming general election. The 1994 election attracted attention worldwide. The upcoming election is also a significant one, because it will be the first to be held after completing the process of introducing a new constitution. At the same time this election marks President Mandela's retirement. I am convinced that the election will be successful. For its part, Japan has supplied the Independent Election Commission and other organizations with more than 2-million-rand worth of equipment. We are also planning to dispatch election observers.

Looking back over the last five years, relations between Japan and South Africa have advanced a great deal. At the time of the inauguration of the new administration of President Mandela, Japan announced a development assistance package totaling 1.3 billion dollars, centered on assistance for disadvantaged people. Since then, President Mandela has visited Japan as a state guest, Japanese companies have engaged in large-scale investment in South Africa, Deputy President Mbeki has visited Japan on two occasions, and the Japan-South Africa Partnership Forum has been launched.

As well as these bilateral relations, our two countries share common values on such issues as nuclear nonproliferation, prohibition of antipersonnel landmines, the environment, the pursuit of human rights and democracy, the settlement of conflicts, and economic development in Africa. I firmly believe that we can further strengthen our cooperation toward the goal of creating a just and humane new world order together.

(African development and TICAD process)

Ladies and gentlemen,

Now, as action for the practical realization of the "African Renaissance," I would like to introduce here the ideas of the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD II, which was held in Tokyo in October of last year. I myself served a co-chairman of the conference.

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development is a process for realizing Japan's new and positive African policy. Japan in 1991 proposed the holding of an international conference on African development in order to support the favorable political and economic changes taking place in Africa and to provide a forum for wide-ranging discussions on African development.

The First Tokyo International Conference on African Development was held in 1993. The two main features of the Tokyo Declaration adopted at this conference were its emphasis on respect for the initiative of Africa itself and the partnership between Africa and its development partners. These ideas were carried on in the New Development Strategy adopted in 1996 by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). And they received emphasis again at TICAD II in 1998. Another feature of the TICAD Tokyo Declaration was its proposal of Asia-Africa cooperation so as to utilize the experiences of Asia in African development. Following TICAD, the Asia-Africa Forum has been held in Indonesia and Thailand to discuss such cooperation, thus making clear the great possibility of south-south cooperation. In recent years, there has been an increase of trade and investment between the two regions, and the exchange of people is increasing, too. At TICAD II this idea was further advanced.

The common factors behind these concepts of ownership, partnership, and south-south cooperation are confidence in the potential development capacity of Africa and horizontal cooperation based on an equal footing. Through the TICAD process, I believe that these ideas have become even more widely accepted. And TICAD II adopted the strategic and action-oriented Tokyo Agenda for Action, with the basic themes toward African development in the twenty-first century - poverty reduction and the integration of Africa into the world economy.

(Children's health and parasitic countermeasures)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Efforts will be necessary to realize the specific goals of this Tokyo Agenda for Action in the African continent. The African countries themselves should take the initiative in making these efforts. For its part, Japan will be very pleased if it can support the African countries and move forward together with them. Here I would like to explain about two areas in which Japan is especially interested and believes that it can provide support: children's health and parasitic countermeasures.

Today, May 5, is a festival called Children's Day in Japan. Children are our future, regardless of differences in race, culture, and religion. It is on the basis of this thinking that Japan supports the concept of eradicating polio and providing vaccinations to children, being promoted by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund Since 1993, centered on the East Asia and West Pacific regions, Japan has implemented assistance in this field to the value of about 2.8 billion yen, including the provision of polio vaccine and cold chains. As a result, polio has just about been eradicated in these regions. And now we are extending these results to South Asia and Africa. At TICAD II we also announced that further efforts would be made to promote the eradication of polio in Africa. Specifically, Japan announced its intention to provide support to Africa in the fields of health, education, and water supply to the value of about 90 billion yen over the next five years. Furthermore, regarding the maintenance of children's health, including the eradication of polio, we are planning to promote grass-roots cooperation through the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers.

Next, regarding parasitic countermeasures, for example, more than 500 million people around the world are infected by malaria every year, and about two million people die from this disease. As you know, malaria is the biggest infectious disease in Africa. At the Denver Summit in 1997, Japan indicated the importance of international parasitic countermeasures. Furthermore, at the Birmingham Summit in 1998, then Prime Minister Hashimoto proposed the establishment of centers in Asia and Africa for human resource building and research activities so as to improve human resource development and information exchange related to parasitic countermeasures. At present, preparations are being made to establish such centers in Kenya, Ghana and Thailand.

(Human resource building and stabilization of the basis of development)

Ladies and gentlemen,

Besides this, Japan is implementing support in various fields with the aim of putting the Tokyo Agenda for Action into practice in Africa. Among this assistance, I would especially like to emphasize the perspective of human resource building. The experiences of Asian countries, including Japan, show clearly that human resource building is the key to nation-building. We accept about a thousand technical trainees every year from African countries. In addition, Japan, emphasizing human resource building that utilizes south-south cooperation, will extend both financial and technical support to enable 2,000 trainees from African countries to participate in training programs in Asia, North Africa, and elsewhere during the next five years.

Furthermore, support to stabilize the basis of development is also necessary. According to a report by the United Nations, at present there are nearly 20 million landmines buried in sub-Saharan Africa. The day before yesterday, I attended the first Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Convention against Anti-Personnel Landmines, held in Maputo, as the representative of the Japanese government. I was made keenly aware that the international community should unite in tackling this problem, so that the people of Africa and their children can walk safely on their land, and people with disabilities caused by landmines can renew their social lives as quickly as possible. Japan has advocated the "Zero Victims Program," announcing assistance totaling approximately 10 billion yen for the five-year period from 1998 to eliminate landmines and help victims. We are putting this program into action. In 1998 Japan implemented support of about 1 billion yen, and we intend to continue and expand providing active assistance.

(Japan's contribution to the debt problem)

Ladies and gentlemen,

Japan is well aware that the debt problem is a major issue involving the future of many African countries, and we are making efforts toward the permanent solution of this problem. Japan carried out debt rescheduling in the amount of 8 billion dollars to date. In particular, Japan has provided grant assistance to reduce the bilateral ODA debts of 27 countries, totaling approximately 3 billion dollars. Moreover, Japan has contributed over 73 million dollars to the trust funds of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, so that heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) can receive debt relief from these organizations. Also, we are planning to organize capacity building programs in conjunction with international organizations. Debt management seminars will be held in several countries including Kenya and Singapore this year.

As the latest means to cope with this debt issue, the Japanese Government has just announced a new proposal on debt relief measures to the participating governments of the Koln Summit, other donor countries and related international organizations. This proposal includes increase of the current debt relief ceiling of 67% for bilateral ODA loans to one hundred percent under the existing international framework to support heavily indebted poor countries, with due attention to equal burden sharing among donor countries. Based upon this new proposal, Japan intends to play a leading role at the Koln Summit on the issue of debt problem.

(Human security and Japan's African policy)

Ladies and gentlemen,

Japan's African policy is supported by a sense of community with the African people. This idea is closely related to the policy of emphasizing human security announced by Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. At present, many African people face a variety of threats, such as military conflicts, desertification and other environmental problems, starvation, refugees, the violation of human rights, AIDS and other infectious diseases, and antipersonnel landmines. Efforts to eliminate these threats - in other words, to ensure human security - can be said to be an important goal of Japan's African policy.

According to former Professor Lincoln Chen of the Harvard School of Public Health, human security comprises three factors: first, human survival (the ability of individual human beings to live long and healthy lives); second, human well-being (the ability of human beings to enjoy a certain standard of living and to secure the financial resources to sustain it); and third, human freedom (the ability to satisfy the fundamental desire of human beings including intellectual ones).

For the people of South Africa, liberation from apartheid was a historical step forward toward the realization of the third factor - that is, human freedom. As President Mandela has said, a man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. In this sense, also the white people were not free. To be free is not merely to cast off one's shackles but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. These words of President Mandela are a precious treasure not only for the people of South Africa but for all people who long for real freedom.

(Concluding remark - pursuit of humanity in South Africa)

Ladies and gentlemen,

In his famous "Two Nations" speech last year, in which he called for national reconciliation, Deputy President Mbeki appealed to all people to join together in an effort toward nation-building with a sense of true nationhood as South Africans, transcending individual race.

I firmly believe that, as Deputy President Mbeki indicated, South Africa will steadily overcome its problems. In the settlement of problems in South Africa so far, there has always been the theme of the "pursuit of humanity." Under the apartheid system, the wall of distrust and hatred between races unwittingly appeared, resulting in tragedy. What made for a peaceful settlement was the existence of a wide range of good-willed people who ultimately believed in humanity. It is my conviction that this belief in humanity serves as a driving force for South Africa to overcome the problems which may lie ahead.

I am told that in the language of the Zulu people, there is a word "ubuntu" which means the feeling of wanting to give your last drink of water to a passing traveler because, even though you have only one cupful of water left yourself, you realize that the traveler must be very thirsty as well. When I heard this word, I felt that I could understand the reason for the South African miracle. I hope that ubuntu will become the identity of the whole South African nation and will continue to exert an influence toward the realization of the African Renaissance.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Re ya leboga, Baie dankie, Siyabonga.