DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: Over twenty African presidents in Japan at the opening of the 7th TICAD

INVESTING IN AFRICA: Over twenty African leaders are participating in the 7th Summit of the International Conference for African Development ( TICAD ) in Tokyo, which kicked off today (28 August) in Japan.

TICAD yes is held in Japan with the exception of TICADVI held in Africa. TICAD7 takes place in Yokohama, Japan.The event ended on Friday 30 August 2019.

African leaders in Japan include:

• Faustin Archange Touadera, Central African Republic
• Azali Assoumani, Comoros
• Danny Faure, Seychelles
• Alpha Conde, Guinea
• Patrice Talon, Benin
• Julius Maada Bio, Sierra Leone
• Andry Rajoelina, Madagascar
• Ismail Omar Guelleh, Djibouti
• Joao Lourenco, Angola
• Hage Geingob, Namibia
• George Weah, Liberia
• Felix Tshisekedi, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya
• Yoweri Museveni, Uganda
• Abdul Fatten Al-Sisi, Egypt and current chairman of the African Union
• Paul Kagame, Rwanda
• Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, Somalia
• Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe
• Faure Gnassingbe, Togo
• Mahamadou Issoufou, Niger
• Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Ghana
• Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria
• Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa
• Ibrahim Boubakar Keita, Mali
• Edgar Lungu, Zambia
• Macky Sall, Senegal

Delegation leaders who are not presidents include:

• Thomas Thabane, Prime Minister of Lesotho
• Everton Herbert Chimulirenji, Vice-President of Malawi
• Isatou Touray, Vice-President of The Gambia
• Amadou Gon Coulibaly, Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire
• Osman Saleh, Foreign Minister if Eritrea
• Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia

On Tuesday 27 August, the ICTAD7 ministerial preparatory meeting was held in Yokohama, and Mr Taro Kono, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, attended the meeting as co-chair and rallied support for a successful summit.

In response, the co-chair, Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared his intention to strengthen partnerships and aim to achieve AU Agenda 2063 and the SDG through the TICAD7 process, under the theme 'Promoting Africa's Development through People, Technology and Innovation'.

Subsequently, through discussion among participants at ministerial level, they affirmed the contents of the 'Yokohama 2019 Declaration' and the 'Yokohama 2019 Action Plan', and the two documents will be presented to leaders to be adopted at the TICAD7 Summit.

At this meeting, the measures expressed during the process TICAD over the past three years have also been presented through the 'TICAD VI Report 2016-2018'.

The government of Japan leads the conference with co-hosts such as the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP ), the World Bank and the African Union Commission ( AUC ).

TICAD is an international summit-level conference on African development launched by Japan in 1993. TICAD yes is held every 5 years until TICADV (2013).

The hosting period was reduced to 3 years from TICAD VI (2016), during which it was held for the first time in Africa (Kenya, Nairobi).

In addition to the main deliberations of presidents, heads of state and government representatives, there are a number of side events planned for countries to engage in bilateral talks with the host nation and each other.

During the TICAD 6, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, revealed that Africa will benefit from a $ 30 billion investment package by 2018, including a $ 10 billion investment in infrastructure development.

"When combined with private sector investment, I expect the total real amount to be $ 30 billion. This is an investment that has confidence in Africa's future development,' he said at the time.