The Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-VI) was held from 27 to 28 August 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Office of the Special Advider on Africa (OSAA) is currently working closely with all the other TICAD co-organizers and the Government of Kenya towards a successful organization of the momentous TICAD-VI Summit.
About TICAD:
Tokyo International Conference on African Development(TICAD) is a conference held regularly with the objective “to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners.
- Japan is a co-host of these conferences. Other co-organizers of TICAD are the United Nations Office of the Special Advisor on Africa (UN-OSSA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
- The series has included: TICAD I (1993); TICAD II (1998); TICAD III (2003); TICAD IV (2008); TICAD V (2013). The next conference is scheduled for Kenya in August 2016 and this is the first time the event is held in Africa, previous conferences were all held in Japan.
- TICAD has been an evolving element in Japan’s long-term commitment to fostering peace and stability in Africa throughcollaborative partnerships.
- In this context, Japan has stressed the importance of “Africa’s ownership” of its development as well as of the “partnership” between Africa and the international community.
- The exchange of views amongst the conference delegates serves to underscore the case for more, not less assistance from the major world economies.
About TICAD VI:
- TICAD-VI will be a milestone of the TICAD process, since it will be the first-ever TICAD Summit to be held in the African continent in its over 20 years of history.
- Holding TICAD-VI in Africa clearly demonstrates growing African ownership in the TICAD process and has been attracting much attention from African states and all TICAD partners, such as the international organizations, including the United Nations System and regional organizations, such as the African Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency), as well as civil society and the private sector. The highest-level representations from African states and TICAD partners are expected at TICAD-VI.
- TICAD-VI will also take place at an opportune moment, as the year 2016 is the first year of the implementations of the global and regional development agendas, namely the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmentand Agenda 2063 and its First Ten-Year Implementation Plan.
Being fully in line with these development agendas, TICAD-VI plan to discuss some thematic issues that Africa has been facing since the last TICAD-V in Yokohama, Japan in 2013, which include:
- Industrialization,
- Health, and
- Social stability, among other things.
Japan Pledges $30 Billion for Africa over Next Three Years
i. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe committed to provide $30 billion as public and private support for infrastructure development, education and healthcare expansion in the African Continent.
ii. Abe attended the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) , in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to and declared this package would be spread over three years from this year and include $10 billion for infrastructure projects, to be executed through cooperation with the African Development Bank.
iii. Japan’s overall direct investment in Africa totaled US$1.24 billion in 2015, down from about US$1.5 billion a year earlier, according to the Japan External Trade Organization, which does not provide a breakdown of sectors.
iv. It is also noted that the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria meanwhile pledged $24 billion over the next three to five years toward Africa’s efforts to achieve universal health coverage.