TICAD 30th Anniversary Event “TICAD 30 Years Progress and Outlook” | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

At the outset, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori made an opening address, touching on the visit to Sub-Saharan Africa in 2001, which was the first time a sitting prime minister visited Sub-Saharan Africa, and the establishment of the Japan-African Union (AU) parliamentary federation in 2003. He looked back on the 30 years of TICAD, referring to human efforts.
In the panel discussion that followed, discussions were held on the achievements of TICAD, the value of TICAD, evaluation of TICAD, etc. The importance of the “ownership” of African countries and the “partnership” of the international community in African development, which TICAD has advocated, and the usefulness of its function as a platform to encourage the efforts of various actors were confirmed. In addition, it was recognized that it is necessary to further accelerate efforts to eradicate poverty and promote private sector investment by utilizing TICAD. Furthermore, there was a voice that compared to other development forums, it is important for TICAD to continue to be an initiative based on partnerships. At the same time, although Africa has grown significantly since the start of TICAD, it was recognized that there is a need to further accelerate efforts.

They discussed how TICAD can be used to promote public-private partnerships, how it can contribute to sustainable growth in Africa, and challenges in promoting business in Africa. Here, he points out that the forms of business in Africa are diversifying, and after expanding Japan’s economic activities, considers TICAD as one of the opportunities for Japanese companies to expand their business in Africa. It was pointed out that feeding is necessary. In addition, the importance of impact investment, the matching of African and Japanese companies, the need for support such as hard, soft and human infrastructure, support as a companion runner for sustainable development, promotion of green growth in Africa, foreign The importance of cooperation with companies was pointed out.

A discussion was held on the role that TICAD should play in the future, a “Japanese-like” approach, and Japan’s role in light of the current severe international situation. The necessity of using TICAD as an international platform to address global issues such as climate change and food security, as well as the importance of securing development funds, human resource development, technology transfer, startups and innovation were pointed out. I was. In addition, he pointed out that it is necessary to spread awareness that Africa is an attractive business field, the importance of all-Japan efforts to deepen Japan-Africa relations, and the need to increase the name recognition of TICAD. was also commented on.

After the three panels, Ichiro Aisawa, Member of the House of Representatives (Chairman of the Japan-AU Parliamentary Federation), made a speech, emphasizing the need to make TICAD more attractive to Africa and calling for Africa to become a continent of hope. Ta. Finally, Parliamentary Vice-Minister Takagi made a closing remark (Japanese (PDF)/ English (PDF)), and after summarizing the discussions of each panel at this event, he expressed his expectations for the young generation who will lead the future of Japan and Africa, and expressed his hope that the Japanese students who participated in this event and the “Industry for African Youth” Human Resource Development Initiative” introduced current and graduated students on stage. The representatives who took the podium spoke about their impressions of participating in this event and their own visions of how they would like to contribute to Japan-Africa relations in the future. In addition, Parliamentary Vice-Minister Takagi stated that the discussions at this event will lead to the TICAD Ministerial Meeting to be held in Tokyo in 2024 and TICAD9 to be held in Yokohama in 2025.