TICAD II Follow-up Measures

II. Economic Development

II-1. Hippalos Centre (Asia-Africa Investment and Technology Promotion Center, AAITPC)

Hippalos Centre is funded by Japan and implemented by UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization). The Centre was set up in Malaysia in August, 1999 to promote investment and technology promotion from Asian countries to African countries.

The Centre initially selected seven African countries (Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Tanzania and Mozambique), and has been providing information on the economic condition, domestic legal system, investment opportunities and relevant investment news on the Web.

The Centre promotes investment and technology transfer from Asia to Africa by

The first business mission, which Asian participants took part by their own expenses, was sent to Uganda and Tanzania in October, 2000. 33 companies and 51 business people from Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Korea participated in the mission to Uganda; 18 companies and 21 business people from Malaysia, India and Pakistan participated in the mission to Tanzania. 3 memorandums between companies (such as "a collaboration agreement"), 2 memorandums between Chambers of Commerce & Industry (such as "a cooperation agreement") were concluded by the beginning of the year 2001.

The Centre planns to send second business mission to Ghana and Senegal in October, 2001 and is preparing briefing sessions, a fact finding mission on investment situation in both countries and organizing investment promotion seminars in Asian countries.

II-2. Africa-Asia Business Forum (in Malaysia)

The Africa-Asia Business Forum was held under the sponsorship of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from October 26 to 29, 1999 in Malaysia.

The forum was proposed by then-Prime Minister Mr. Keizo Obuchi at TICAD II held in October 1998 as one of Japan's assistance measures for Africa with the aim of promoting direct investment and trade between Asia and Africa. The forum was funded through the Human Resources Development Fund, which Japan extends to the UNDP. The Second Africa-Asia Business Forum is planned to be held from July 8 to 14, 2001 in South Africa.

110 African companies from 23 African countries and 120 Asian companies from 6 Asian countries participated in the first forum. The African countries with over ten companies participating were Nigeria (17 companies), South Africa (15 companies), and Ghana (11 companies). On the Asian side, 70 companies from Malaysia, 19 companies from South Korea, and 8 companies from Pakistan participated.

As for the selection of companies, the UNDP, in collaboration with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group, used its own network to compile a candidate list (1000 companies from Africa and 800 companies from Asia that had shown interest). The participants were selected through interviews, etc., centered on automobile parts, food processing, electrical/electronic goods, medical and sanitation supplies, building materials and engineering which industries were considered to realize more business deals.

MIGA arranged the parings of companies for the forum beforehand. Through one-to-one negotiations between the Asian and African companies -a kind of "arranged marriage"- companies looked for business opportunities. By the time of the closing ceremony, the number of agreements, such as the signing of memoranda of intent to invest, reached 27. By the time of March, 2000, 18 African companies contracted 22 agreements, and 18 Asian companies contracted 28 agreements. The number of tie-ups will further increase through mutual visits by the companies. Some examples of tie-ups include: a joint venture between companies in India and Malawi to produce shock absorbers; in South Korea and Mali to manufacture electrical goods like speakers; and in Malaysia and South Africa to create Internet businesses. In addition, some African companies tied-up to each other, e.g., agreements for the construction of a tuna processing facility in Zanzibar by a company from Mauritius and for the building of an assembly factory in Mali by a South African automobile parts maker.

II-3. Assistance for the promotion of rice cultivation in Africa

In many African countries, agriculture still accounts for a sizable part of the GDP. Moreover, sustainable agricultural development is a key to ensure food security. With such consideration, Japan has taken up rice cultivation which has high nutritional value compared with traditional African foods, and is easy to store and distribute. Japan is currently carrying out the projects described below for improving the productivity and promoting the dissemination of rice cultivation in western Africa, where the demand for rice is increasing in many countries.

II-4. Tourism development in the southern African region

As a first step to strengthen tourism authorities in southern African countries, Japan-Southern Africa Partnership Forum held on January 13-14, 1999 discussed tourism development. Following the Forum, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held a special regional training course (a Seminar on the Promotion of Tourism in Southern Africa) from February 29 to March 19, 2000. The seminar focused on introducing Japan's experience and know-how in attracting tourists and on sharing tourism strategies in Japanese and other Asian markets. The GOJ is considering the possibility of sending experts to the region to strengthen the capacity of African tourism authorities and to promote tourism development.

II-5. Capacity building for debt management

TICAD II emphasized that capacity building is crucial for African development and recognized the African external debt burden. Along with improving the HIPCs initiative, it is particularly important to develop human resources to strengthen debt management capacity in the context of economic, fiscal and financial policy-making and their implementation.

Bearing this in mind, the Governments of Japan and Kenya, the IMF, the World Bank, and the UNDP co-sponsored the TICAD II High Level Seminar on Africa's External Debt in Kenya (Nairobi), August30-31, 1999. Chaired by President Mogae of Botswana, the seminar entitled "Finding a Lasting Solution to the Problem of Africa's External Debt-an African Perspective" attracted the attendance of the finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 countries, officials from five international organizations, Archbishop Tutu from South Africa and others.

From November 29 to December 3, 1999, Japan and Singapore co-sponsored a working-level debt management seminar in Singapore with the support of the IMF, the World Bank, and the UNDP. The seminar was held under JICA's third-country training scheme, and was attended by 31 senior officials from the finance ministries, economic planning agencies, central banks and other institutions from 13 English-speaking African countries.

In March 2000, Japan contributed US$500,000 through JHRDF (Japanese Human Resouces Development Fund) to the macro-economic management programme in Nigeria arranged by IMF. Moreover, From April 10 to 14, 2000, another working-level seminar was held in Tunisia for officials from French-speaking African countries etc., under JICA's third-country training scheme.

II-6. Grant aid cooperation for debt relief

At TICAD II held in October 1998, Japan announced that it would extend more debt-relief grant aid. In line with this announcement, Japan increased the amount of debt-relief grants for yen loans up to the end of fiscal 1997 (previously the end of fiscal 1987) to five LLDCs (Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mauritania, and Kenya). Japan also decided to extend debt-relief grants for yen loans agreed from fiscal 1988 to the end of fiscal 1997 to two new LLDCs (Mali and Zambia). Now, Japan has extended debt-relief grants to a total of 28 countries, 22 LLDCs and 6 MSACs.

To cover this increase of debt-relief grant aid announced at TICAD II, the GOJ earmarked in its 2000 budget approximately 4.5 billion yen for debt-relief grants to African LLDCs. Japan has steadily extended debt-relief grants to those countries that have repaid loans up to now.

II-7. Economic Development and Regional Dynamics in Africa: Lessons from the East Asian Experience

Financed by the Government of Japan, UNCTAD organized international conferences with a view to examining the Asian development experience and drawing useful lessons from it to promote development in Africa, in Malaysia (1996), Zimbabwe (1997) and Mauritius (1998).

At these conferences, various factors of economic growth in East Asia and applicability of Asian experiences to Africa were discussed by policy-makers, researchers and academics from many countries.

This forward-looking project will help increasing the capacities of African policy makers in designing and implementing domestic strategies as well as strengthening the framework for South-South Cooperation.

UNCTAD will organize "The African Workshop on Management of Capital Flows", funded by the Government of Japan, to be held in Egypt in March 2001.

II-8. The African Commodity Sector Diversification through South-South Cooperation

This project was also financed by the Government of Japan. The main objective of the project was to assist African commodity sector diversification through providing opportunities for entrepreneurs to network with potential partners to discuss concrete business plans on trade and investment diversification.

In 1996, African entrepreneurs were invited to a study tour to visit factories in Thailand and Indonesia. In 1997, a business forum was held in Zimbabwe where African and Asian entrepreneurs participated.

In 1999, Asia Africa Business Networking Forum was held in Kuala Lumpur with many private companies from Africa, Malaysia and Singapore participating. At this forum, participants from Africa and Asia discussed trade and investment diversification in the private sector, and explored the possibility of private cooperation between Asia and Africa. This forum provided an opportunity for private companies in Africa to interview potential business partners in Asia. As a result of this forum, several memoranda were concluded between companies. Furthermore in 2000, to promote the cooperation between Latin America and Africa, a similar workshop was held in Brazil.

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