6th July, 2005 JAPAN’S POLICY FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT ～Prime Minister Koizumi’s Message to Africa in the context of the G8 Summit～ Japan will continue to lead international discussions on African development, capitalizing on its experiences with the TICAD process. .Since the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD I) in 1993, when concern was voiced over declining international attention to Africa following the end of the Cold War, the Japanese Government has been leading international discussions on African development by advocating the importance of ownership of Africa and partnership with the international community. Japan will hold TICAD IV in 2008. Japan intends to increase its ODA volume by US$ 10 billion in aggregate over the next five years. Japan will double ODA to Africa in the next 3 years. Japan has been committed to debt cancellation to African countries on the largest scale among all creditor countries. .Japan will strive to realize a strategic expansion of its ODA volume in order to ensure a credible and sufficient level of ODA. In this context, Japan intends to increase its ODA volume by US$10 billion in aggregate over the next five years, compared to the level of ODA on the basis of 2004 net ODA disbursement. .Japan has provided more than US$10 billion for Africa through bilateral ODA since 1993. Japan will double our ODA to Africa in the next 3 years. .The Japanese Government has made commitment to debt cancellations of US$4.9 billion for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) in Africa, which is at the largest scale among all creditor countries. Furthermore, G8 countries have agreed with 100% debt cancellation for outstanding obligations of HIPCs to international financial institutions, and decided to work together to seek cooperation by other creditor countries. Japan will expand its support to protect African people’s health. Japan proposes “Health and Development” Initiative to provide comprehensive assistance amounting to US$ 5 billion over the next five years -with African people being major beneficiaries. Japan will increase its contribution to the Global Fund, with the provision of US$ half a billion (500 million) in the coming years. .In order to contribute to achieving the health MDGs, which have seen serious delays in progress in Africa, Japan will provide comprehensive assistance amounting to US$ 5 billion over the next five years - with African people being major beneficiaries . with a view to improving healthcare for children and combating infectious diseases, etc. .Japan has decided to increase its contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and will provide US$ half a billion (500 million) in the coming years. .In fight against malaria, which has taken lives of many children, Japan will distribute 10 million long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets to African countries. ○Japan will support immunization for measles, the supply of polio vaccine, and voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) of HIV/AIDS. ○Japan will support prevention and awareness raising education and activities, as well as dissemination of Mother-and-Child Health Handbooks and prenatal check-ups. ○Japan will provide safe water supply, and install sanitary water supply equipment and latrines in schools. ○Japan will support the establishment of a world-wide disease surveillance system to contribute to early detection of epidemics. 1 6th July, 2005 Japan will enhance its support to “Consolidation of Peace” in Africa, focusing on human security. .Responding to the significant progress in peace processes for many countries in Africa, Japan will expand its support in fields such as assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons, DDR(disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants), mine action, collection and destruction of small arms and light weapons, and assistance to transition to democracy (eg. election support), providing seamless support from the post-conflict phase to the stage of reconstruction and development assistance with the emphasis on human security. ○Japan provides 20% of the total operational cost to eight Peace Keeping Operations (PKOs) currently operating in Africa. Japan’s contribution was US$ 550 million for FY 2004. ○In March 2005, Japan extended assistance of approximately US$ 60 million to 14 African countries those in West Africa and the Great Lakes region, Sudan and Somalia. ○ Following the conclusion in January of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, Japan announced in April that it would provide a package of ODA assistance to both parties totaling US$ 100 million for the near term, and US$ 10 million has already been disbursed. ○Japan will strengthen its support for mine action in countries heavily affected by mines, such as Sudan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, based upon its “New Policy on Anti-Personnel Mines” announced in December 2004 Japan will support “Green Revolution” in Africa and rural development. .As about 70% of African people live in rural areas, development of agriculture and improvement of village life are indispensable for social and economic stability in Africa. .In order to help realize “Green Revolution” to increase agricultural productivity, Japan will support formulation of agricultural policies, agricultural experiment and research, and dissemination of agricultural techniques, etc, including the promotion of development and diffusion of NERICA (New Rice for Africa). .Japan will strengthen linkage between rural areas and cities, through development of local and feeder roads, agricultural markets, and local industries. .In order to comprehensively support improvement of rural life and self-reliance based on the notion of human security, Japan will promote the “African Village Initiative,” under which Japan supports rural community development projects with combination of infrastructure development and empowerment of people. .Japan works together for “African Millennium Village” (AMV), with the UN Millennium Project led by Professor Jeffrey Sachs. AMV aims to exercise research activities and provides a proving ground for scaling-up a variety of innovative technologies for improvement of agricultural productivity at 10 selected villages. Each village is located in an area representing primary agro-ecological zones with a high concentration of hunger. Also, AMV aims to build capacity at a community level of these villages. ○Japan supports formulation of agricultural policy, development and diffusion of NERICA etc, through dispatch of technical experts, etc. ○Japan supports experiment and research of agriculture through the provision of fund to Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). ○Japan extends trainings to agricultural promoters to diffuse agricultural techniques. ○Japan supports small-scale irrigation (development of paddies) in cooperation with the World Food Program (WFP and others), and provides fertilizer and farming equipment. ○Japan develops infrastructure of rural communities (agricultural roads, market, etc.). 2 6th July, 2005 Japan will provide comprehensive support to promote trade and investment for African countries. .In view of Asian experiences, the key to African economic development is to foster the private sector through the promotion of trade and investment. At the TICAD Asia-Africa Trade and Investment Conference held last November, Japan presented four key concepts; (1) the “formulation of an appropriate policy” for establishing an industrial foundation; (2) “product development” with a focus on improving quality to increase competitiveness; (3) the “empowerment of small and medium-size local enterprises (SMEs) ” generating income and employment in local communities; and (4), the “promotion of a social contribution by private enterprises” prompting equitable growth. .Japan will implement “Enhanced Private Sector Assistance (EPSA) for Africa,” providing up to US$ 1.2billion in 5 years in order to foster SME activities and improve investment climate, in partnership with the African Development Bank Group.. .Japan will promote trade and investment between Japan and Africa by facilitating trade insurance, enhancing business exchanges and promoting product development and export to Japan. .Japan will seek to further expand market access to products from the least developed countries (LDC), most of which are in Africa. ○Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has completed “Blue Book on Best Practices on Investment Promotion and Facilitation” on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and will provide its support for the implementation of policy recommendations in the Blue Book. ○Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) will expand its undertaking of insurance relating to trade and investment by Japanese companies to Africa, including through an increase in the number of eligible countries, and coordination and cooperation with African export and trade insurance institutions. ○Japan has proposed the establishment of a new facility by Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), to which Japan will contribute US$ 1 million, to foster private investors to meet the environmental and social safeguard standards of MIGA. ○The fourth Africa-Asia Business Forum (AABF IV) will be organized in 2006 (the past three forums saw the conclusion of approximately 190 memoranda worth approximately US$ 140 million). ○Japan will expand the TICAD Exchange Network (http://www.ticadexchange.org/), which provides business-related information on the internet. ○Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) and other relevant organizations hold training courses and seminars and dispatch experts for the development of SMEs and entrepreneurs, as well as for product development, marketing (“one village one product movement”) and expansion of market access. Japan strengthens Asia-Africa cooperation to share Asia’s experiences. .Asia’s post-war experiences in economic development are valuable assets for us in assisting African development. Japan aims to support capacity building of more than 10,000 persons from Africa over the next four years through Asia-Africa cooperation and other measures. ○Japan creates a new scheme “Asia-Africa Young Volunteers” to dispatch Asian youngsters to Africa aiming at youth exchange and human resource development. ○Japan provides support in various areas so that Asian countries including South-East Asian countries invite African trainees and provide technical cooperation. ○Japan will disseminate to Africa the significance, experiences, benefits and good practices of Asian productivity movement through holding symposium and seminars. 3