Japan-Republic of South Africa Relations
Japan-South Africa Summit Meeting
August 21, 2025
(Photo: Cabinet Public Affairs Office)
On August 21, commencing at 6:25 p.m., for approximately 25 minutes, Mr. ISHIBA Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan, held a summit meeting with H.E. Mr. Matamela Cyril RAMAPHOSA, President of the Republic of South Africa, who is visiting Japan to participate in the in the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9). The overview of the meeting is as follows.
- At the outset, Prime Minister Ishiba paid respect to President Ramaphosa's leadership as the first African G20 Presidency and stated that he would like to work closely toward the success of the G20 Summit in November based on the results of TICAD 9. In response, President Ramaphosa, while pointing out the importance of TICAD for Africa and South Africa, highly evaluated TICAD's efforts to date and stated his desire to further strengthen bilateral relations, including economic relations.
- Following that, Prime Minister Ishiba stated that South Africa is a gateway to the entire African continent for Japanese companies. While referring to the importance of energy transition in a practical manner, Prime Minister Isihba welcomed the signing of the joint statement on decarbonization cooperation and conveyed that Japan is planning to provide yen loans for the reform of South Africa's energy sector. In response, President Ramaphosa expressed his gratitude for Japan’s support to date and stated that he would like to further strengthen cooperation with Japan in the fields of energy, health care and science. He also stated his desire to continue to work together to promote further investment by Japanese companies.
- The two leaders confirmed that they would work together to respond to international challenges, including global health.