South African President Thabo Mbeki says a Japan-Africa dialogue, exploring ways in which Japan can support issues of trade and investment on the African continent, should begin in earnest.
In a prepared speech delivered on Monday at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in the Japanese capital, the president said this collaboration should focus on market access ”especially in the agricultural sector”.
His remarks follow the breakdown of the recent World Trade Organisation talks at Cancun, Mexico, in which the developed world and the developing world disagreed about agricultural subsidies in the developed world in particular.
Mbeki, who is accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said an important outcome of the Tokyo summit ”has to be the setting up of a mechanism for the ongoing implementation of Japan’s support for Nepad [the New Partnership for Africa’s Development], including [its] review and monitoring”.
The president’s office indicated that Mbeki would hold bilateral discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who on Monday at the opening of the conference pledged $1-billion in new aid for education and health care in Africa.
The funds, to be dispersed over five years, will go toward the construction of primary schools, facilities for drinking water and the supply of vaccinations. Part of the money will be targeted at treating Aids and other diseases.
At the Tokyo conference, heads of state from 23 African countries and representatives of leading donor nations and international aid bodies are due to discuss infectious diseases, the prevention of conflict and investment on the continent during the meeting.
The conference is the third such meeting Japan — the continent’s biggest international donor — has hosted since 1993. At the last Tokyo International Conference on African Development five years ago, Japan donated $776-million to African countries for health, education and other development projects.
”Japan hopes to act as a bridge between Asia and Africa,” Koizumi said in his opening speech.
The pledge was the centerpiece of a three-tiered programme to promote development, poverty reduction and peace. That programme also included previously unveiled initiatives to earmark $300-million over the next five years for loans for Japanese investment in Africa and to forgive up to $3-billion in yen loans to the most heavily indebted poor nations on the continent.
Koizumi said Japan has provided Africa assistance totaling $12-billion since the first Ticad conference a decade ago.
He spent Sunday greeting Ghana President John Kufuor and 18 other leaders in a series of bilateral meetings.
Priorities at this year’s meeting will be discussions on improving governance, securing peace and promoting agriculture, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in a statement. Other issues will be the building of infrastructure, improving water supplies and mobilising against HIV/Aids.
The UNDP and the World Bank are helping Tokyo organise the event.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry said the conference is charged with supporting a recovery plan, known as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, that grew out of collaboration between leaders from South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria and Senegal.
While the plan has the backing of the G8 countries, some nations providing aid have expressed concern to African leaders about the need to eliminate corruption and see the aid gets to where it needs to go. That, in turn, has caused concern among potential recipients about the aid being tied to the donors’ political objectives
More than half of Africa’s population lives on less than one US dollar a day and more than 24-million Africans are infected with HIV/Aids but cannot afford expensive drugs designed to slow its effects.