Shinzo Abe shakes hands with Paul Kagame on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on June 2 2013.
The package, unveiled by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the opening of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad), includes $14-billion official development aid and $6.5-billion support to help infrastructure.
Resource-poor Japan has long been keen on Africa's vast natural resources, even more so since dependence on oil and gas imports surged after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster shut almost all of the country's nuclear reactors.
Japan's direct investment in Africa was $460-million in 2011, compared with China's $3.17-billion, according to the Japan External Trade Organisation and China's government data.
Some 50 African leaders and officials — including African Union chairperson Hailemariam Desalegn, African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon — gathered for the three-day conference held in Yokohama near Tokyo to discuss issues such as economic development, peace-making and anti-piracy.
Dlamini-Zuma reiterated the need to invest in the education and skills development of Africans to accelerate industrialisation. She said a focus on youth and women would be the main drivers of economic growth if the continent were to achieve its objectives of transformation and modernisation.
"What Africa needs now is private-sector investment. 'PPP,' or 'public-private partnership,' leverages that investment," Abe said in an opening speech.
Abe, who has been engaged in aggressive diplomacy since he took office in December, also said he planned to visit Africa as soon as possible.
State-run Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation will also provide financial support worth $2-billion in the next five years to help Japanese firms' natural resource development projects, aiming to catch up with China. – Sapa and Staff reporter