TICAD

1. On the sidelines of the 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8), held in Tunisia from August 27 to 28, the Business Forum was organized, where approximately 100 business persons each from Japan and Africa, economy ministers and representatives of development financial institutions, among others, gathered to discuss ways to strengthen business interactions between Japan and Africa. Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, participated by sending his recorded speech in the high-level session of the forum on August 27. The following is the summary of his video message.

• (1) Japan and Africa are "the partners who grow together", working together to tackle various social challenges in Africa. The Government of Japan will make its utmost efforts to support businesses in Africa, highlighting the importance of support for startups, green investment and investment to foster human resources.
• (2) With regard to support for startups, there is a growing trend in Africa that primarily younger entrepreneurs are trying to directly address social challenges by way of doing business on the ground. The Government of Japan will support the efforts of startups working to initiate or expand their businesses in Africa, through public and private sector cooperation.
• (3) With regard to the green investment, the Government of Japan has established Japan’s Green Growth Initiatives with Africa to accelerate green growth with Japanese technologies, by capturing enormous potentials in green growth, and addressing its adaptation needs to the climate change in Africa.
• (4) With regard to the investment in human resources, the Africa-Japan Industrial Human Resource Development Initiative for the Future has been newly launched to develop human resources, targeting younger generations who contribute to industrial advancement. The Government will provide education and training opportunities, aiming at practical skills for 5,000 people over the next three years. 300,000 people will also be trained in a wide range of sectors over the next three years, including industrial human resources mentioned above.

2. At the forum, Minister for Foreign Affairs HAYASHI, together with H. E. Mr. Saied, the President of the Republic of Tunisia, H.E. Mr. Sall, the President of the Republic of Senegal, and Mr. NAKATANI, the State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan participated in a ceremony commemorating the signing of more than 90 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between 29 Japanese companies and 4 organizations and with partners from African countries and others.

［Reference］Attachment

• Video message by the Prime Minister Kishida (Japanese(PDF) /English(PDF) /French(PDF) )
• MOUs (Japanese(PDF) /English(PDF)/French(PDF) )