August 26, 2022

Japan is set to promise some $30 billion in aid for African development at a conference to be held in Tunisia this weekend, the Sankei Shimbun daily reported on Friday.

The aid, which will centre around developing human resources in order to promote economic growth, will be announced at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who will be taking part in the conference online since he is recovering from COVID-19, the paper added.

The government was not immediately available for comment on the report.

Other topics will include food security for African in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as climate change and the promotion of environmentally friendly businesses, a Japanese foreign ministry official said on Wednesday.

The eighth TICAD is the first since 2019 and only the second held in Africa. It is co-hosted with the United Nations, the World Bank and the African Union Commission.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will be attending the conference and is set to meet with his Tunisian counterpart on Friday ahead of the main conference.

REUTERS