Tokyo African Club (TAC) Meeting

May 29, 2007

As part of Japan’s efforts to strengthen dialogue with African countries in preparation for the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) to be held in 2008, a Tokyo African Club meeting was held on May 29 (Tue). The meeting was attended among others by Mr. Takeshi Iwaya, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Masayoshi Hamada, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Shuichiro Megata, Director-General for Sub-Saharan African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and African Ambassadors to Japan as invited guests.
At the outset of the meeting, Mr. Iwaya and Mr. Hamada gave short remarks which include a report on their recent visits to Africa. After that, members of the African Diplomatic Corps (ADC) gave an outline of their concrete suggestions that they had compiled for TICAD IV.
The Japanese side explained the current state of preparation for TICAD IV as well as the update of Japan’s assistance in each field, and stated Japan’s intention to strengthen its continuous partnership with African countries, making use of these exchanges of views with the ADC members towards TICAD. Representatives of the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank, who are the co-organizers of TICAD IV, referred to the importance of the coordination among TICAD IV-related parties.
Ambassadors commented on and asked questions about the preparations in such fields as the promotion of trade and investment, improvement of infrastructure, human security, environmental issues, and the future modality of ODA, which was followed by lively discussion. The Japanese and the African sides agreed that they would deepen their discussions through meetings of the same sort, inter alia, on the composition of major themes of TICAD IV.

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