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By Baboloki Semele
The Government of Japan announced that TICAD8 will be hosted by the Republic of Tunisia from 27 to 28 August in Tunis. TICAD will take place in Africa for the second time after Kenya hosted one in 2016. In light of the outcomes of TICAD7 held in Yokohama in August 2019, Japan will continue to strongly support African-led development toward TICAD8.
It takes place as the international community fights an ongoing battle against COVID-19, supports Ukraine in its defense against Russian invasion, and assists over five million displaced Ukrainians. The eighth edition of the Tokyo International Conference on the Development of Africa will be an opportunity to demonstrate the ongoing commitment of the International Community in general, and of the Japanese Government in particular, to the African Continent.
According to the joint press release by the Government of the Republic of Tunisia and the TICAD Co-organizers, UNOSAA, UNDP, African Union Commission (AUC), World Bank, and the Government of Japan, all the partners jointly express their strong commitment to the TICAD process towards building a prosperous and peaceful future for all the people of Africa.
The release says with its history of over a quarter of a century, TICAD is gaining further significance as an inclusive multilateral conference to address development issues in Africa, including in the area of health and private sector development. Earlier this year, Tunisian Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi and Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister SUZUKI Takako on June 2 confirmed cooperation toward the success of TICAD 8.
In a meeting followed by a supper in Tokyo, Deputy Minister Suzuki said Tunisia is an important partner for Japan in the Middle East and Africa. Jerandi, also minister of Immigration and Overseas Tunisians, pledged to strengthen bilateral ties in various fields and stated that he would like to work closely with Japan. Initiated by Japan in 1932, the TICAD platform brings together international organizations and business representatives from African countries and Japan.
The Japanese government hosts TICAD across a wide spectrum of participation that includes multiple stakeholders active in Africa. Co-organizers such as United Nations, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank, and African Union Commission (AUC) join along with private sector executives, heads of state, and civil society members.
In 2019, TICAD 7 welcomed over 10,000 participants, 42 African leaders from 53 African countries, 52 development partner countries, 108 heads of international and regional organizations, as well as civil society and private sector partners. According to a press release from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), for over 30 years, Japan’s commitment to African development through co-hosting TICAD every 3-5 years is unprecedented and has become a milestone in strengthening Japan-Africa relations.
Through the TICAD process, the release says Japan has been supporting African-led development and at the TICAD III in 2003, Japan called upon the international community to support the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), a development program of the African Union (AU) and since then, JICA has continued to work closely with NEPAD and its successor AUDA-NEPAD, the AU’s development agency. As a forum for stakeholder dialogue on development that leads to direct action to improve lives, TICAD initiatives result in a myriad of community and business projects, including quality of life improvement through ensuring access to safe drinking water, improving access to primary and secondary schools and healthcare and medical facilities.
One particularly successful TICAD initiative is the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD), a collaborative framework that has mobilized concerted efforts from African countries and international organizations that has achieved an ambitious target of doubling Africa’s rice production between 2008 and 2018.
