TICAD MINISTERIAL-LEVEL MEETING

October, 2001
Second Africa Division
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1. Date and Venue

A Ministerial-level Meeting on African Development will be held on Dec. 3 and 4 of this year at Tokyo in preparation for TICADIII to be held in the future. This decision was announced by Prime Minister Mori (then) when he made the first-ever visit to Africa by an incumbent Japanese Prime Minister this January.
The meeting will be co-organized by the Japanese Government, the United Nations, GCA (Global Coalition for Africa), and the World Bank. Preceding the meeting, a Preparatory Meeting (Vice-Minister level) will be held on Oct. 30 and 31 in Dakar, Senegal.

2. Participants

In addition to African countries, Asian countries, donor countries, and international organizations, regional organizations, private sector, and NGOs are expected to join the Ministerial-level Meeting.

3. Main Agenda

(1) TICADII (1998) review

(2) New African Initiative (NAI)

(3) Priority Areas

(4) TICAD focused approaches
South-South cooperation
Regional cooperation
IT for development

Furthermore, dialogues with the private sector and the civil society will take place during the meeting.

4. Significance

(1) TICAD Ministerial-level Meeting will provide a good opportunity to call attention of the international community to African issues.

(2) TICAD Ministerial-level Meeting serves as a milestone in the TICAD process, by reviewing results of TICADII and setting a tone for the TICADIII meeting to be held in the near future.

(3) Two basic principles of the TICAD process, Africa's ownership and it's partnership with the development partners have also become the central principle of the New African Initiative (NAI), which has been developed by African people themselves. This meeting is the first international forum which discusses NAI, with participants from various backgrounds including African countries, major donors, Asian countries and others.