YOKOHAMA, Japan: The Japanese government announced a package of steps Wednesday to help economic development in Africa, vowing to double its aid and business investment as it seeks closer ties with that resource-rich continent.
In an opening speech at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, which has attracted more than 40 African heads of state, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of Japan also said it would set up a $2.5 billion facility to help Japanese firms invest more in Africa.
"If I were to liken the history of African development to a volume of literature, then what we are about to do now is open a new page entitled the 'Century of African Growth,"' Fukuda said, adding that developing transportation infrastructure was key to raising economic growth there.
The three-day conference in Yokohama, near Tokyo, is a litmus test for Japanese efforts to help Africa as it seeks more mineral resources from that continent.
Japan also hopes to win support for its longstanding bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council - a topic that Fukuda repeatedly mentioned in bilateral meetings with African leaders Tuesday.Some 2,500 participants, representing 52 African nations and international agencies, including activists like the Irish rock star Bono, have gathered at the conference as Africa faces the challenges of soaring food and energy prices, which have led to riots in some countries.
Besides talking about how to aid economic development in Africa, delegates also stressed the need to meet the UN's millennium development goals, a set of eight globally agreed targets to be reached by 2015.
As this year marks the halfway point to achieve the goals, which include halving the number of people living in poverty on less than $1 a day and providing universal primary education, concerns are growing that most countries may fail to meet them.
For Africa, closer ties with Japan means not only getting more aid and investment from the world's second-largest economy, after the United States', but also getting its voice heard on the international stage, especially since Japan is the host of meetings for the Group of 8 industrialized nations this year, including a summit meeting in July.
"What Prime Minister Fukuda decides this week will set the tone for this summer's G-8 summit where we expect action on promises to Africa - not more rhetoric or fancy accounting," said Takumo Yamada, spokesman for Oxfam Japan.
Fukuda promised to double Tokyo's development aid to Africa over the next five years. He pledged to provide up to $4 billion of loans to Africa over the next five years to improve African infrastructure, while doubling grant aid and technical assistance over the next five years as well.
Aid experts and activists worry that donor countries may fail to meet their promises made at the Group of 8 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005, which included raising aid to developing countries by $50 billion per year by 2010, half of which was for Africa.
In 2007, Japan slipped to fifth place from third in overall overseas aid, spending $7.7 billion, down 30 percent from the previous year, according to figures from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, as Tokyo tried to curb the bulging Japanese public debt.
"We think that the world is really watching Japan," Bono said Tuesday. "At this year's G-8 summit, we get to find out if a new Japan is coming."
Delegates at the Yokohama conference said they hoped to go beyond just aid.
"Besides the increase in aid, which is highly appreciated," the conference "needs to go further," President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania said. "What remains to be seen is increased trade and investment between Africa and Japan."
Citing World Bank figures, Kikwete said Japanese investment in sub-Saharan Africa from 2002 to 2004 amounted to $415 million, just 0.4 percent of Japanese global foreign investment.
This is the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, held every five years since 1993, yet Japan has lagged behind China and India in accessing the rich bounty of metals and oil in Africa. Japanese trade with Africa is a meager 2 percent of its overall trade.
To foster Japanese businesses in Africa, Fukuda said Japan would dispatch a large-scale economic mission this year, comprising leaders from the public and private sector.
Japan promises to double aid to Africa
YOKOHAMA, Japan: The Japanese government announced a package of steps Wednesday to help economic development in Africa, vowing to double its aid and business investment as it seeks closer ties with that resource-rich continent.
In an opening speech at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, which has attracted more than 40 African heads of state, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of Japan also said it would set up a $2.5 billion facility to help Japanese firms invest more in Africa.
"If I were to liken the history of African development to a volume of literature, then what we are about to do now is open a new page entitled the 'Century of African Growth,"' Fukuda said, adding that developing transportation infrastructure was key to raising economic growth there.
The three-day conference in Yokohama, near Tokyo, is a litmus test for Japanese efforts to help Africa as it seeks more mineral resources from that continent.
Japan also hopes to win support for its longstanding bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council - a topic that Fukuda repeatedly mentioned in bilateral meetings with African leaders Tuesday.Some 2,500 participants, representing 52 African nations and international agencies, including activists like the Irish rock star Bono, have gathered at the conference as Africa faces the challenges of soaring food and energy prices, which have led to riots in some countries.
Besides talking about how to aid economic development in Africa, delegates also stressed the need to meet the UN's millennium development goals, a set of eight globally agreed targets to be reached by 2015.
As this year marks the halfway point to achieve the goals, which include halving the number of people living in poverty on less than $1 a day and providing universal primary education, concerns are growing that most countries may fail to meet them.
For Africa, closer ties with Japan means not only getting more aid and investment from the world's second-largest economy, after the United States', but also getting its voice heard on the international stage, especially since Japan is the host of meetings for the Group of 8 industrialized nations this year, including a summit meeting in July.
"What Prime Minister Fukuda decides this week will set the tone for this summer's G-8 summit where we expect action on promises to Africa - not more rhetoric or fancy accounting," said Takumo Yamada, spokesman for Oxfam Japan.
Fukuda promised to double Tokyo's development aid to Africa over the next five years. He pledged to provide up to $4 billion of loans to Africa over the next five years to improve African infrastructure, while doubling grant aid and technical assistance over the next five years as well.
Aid experts and activists worry that donor countries may fail to meet their promises made at the Group of 8 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005, which included raising aid to developing countries by $50 billion per year by 2010, half of which was for Africa.
In 2007, Japan slipped to fifth place from third in overall overseas aid, spending $7.7 billion, down 30 percent from the previous year, according to figures from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, as Tokyo tried to curb the bulging Japanese public debt.
"We think that the world is really watching Japan," Bono said Tuesday. "At this year's G-8 summit, we get to find out if a new Japan is coming."
Delegates at the Yokohama conference said they hoped to go beyond just aid.
"Besides the increase in aid, which is highly appreciated," the conference "needs to go further," President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania said. "What remains to be seen is increased trade and investment between Africa and Japan."
Citing World Bank figures, Kikwete said Japanese investment in sub-Saharan Africa from 2002 to 2004 amounted to $415 million, just 0.4 percent of Japanese global foreign investment.
This is the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, held every five years since 1993, yet Japan has lagged behind China and India in accessing the rich bounty of metals and oil in Africa. Japanese trade with Africa is a meager 2 percent of its overall trade.
To foster Japanese businesses in Africa, Fukuda said Japan would dispatch a large-scale economic mission this year, comprising leaders from the public and private sector.
