A number of developments symbolize the "new trend" across sub-Saharan Africa in particular (hereinafter simply "Africa"). South Africa has been transformed into a political democracy. The democratization process has taken another major step forward with the completion of the peace process in Mozambique. Furthermore, several countries have made steady progress in laying the infrastructure for national integration, while still others have registered steady economic growth. Nonetheless, in many countries of the region, conditions of severe poverty still reign, and the economic gaps with other developing regions have in fact grown wider. These factors have prompted fears that the countries of Africa could end up left on the fringe as economic globalization expands.

Various developments have taken place since the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in October 1993. Sponsored primarily by Japan, TICAD culminated in the Tokyo Declaration, which underlined the importance of self-reliant efforts by the African community, and highlighted key issues in African development. The declaration was epoch-making in stressing that the development of Africa would be the responsibility of the African community itself, and that not only traditional donors, but also many rapidly-growing Asian countries should play a role. The Asia-Africa Forum was held in December 1994 as a follow-up conference on the themes that concerned TICAD.

The Ninth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 9) was held in South Africa in April 1996. At that forum, Japan announced its African Aid Initiative, which called for another conference on African development (TICAD II), and bundled programs for human resources development and the eradication of polio, among other things. The TICAD II forum was to be devoted to 1) a review of African development trends since the first TICAD gathering, and 2) the formulation of an action program for the region's continuing development in the century ahead, based on the New Development Strategy.

Several issues must be addressed in the meantime. First it will be necessary to help many countries in Africa lay the foundations for self-reliant progress on the development path, for example, in such areas as education and the formulation of legal codes. Secondly, to adapt Asian development models to the African setting, it will be vital to promote expanded South-South cooperation between countries in these two regions. Third, there will be a need for heightened levels of assistance to future growth centers (such as southern African region). And fourth, Japan will need to refine and strengthen its local aid implementing capabilities on the African continent.

Chart 7 Trends in Japan's ODA to Africa (Net Disbursement Basis)

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