Ambassador Shigeyuki Hiroki’s remarks on TICAD VI
‘Why Japan is so serious about Africa’
(Summary)
31 March 2016
On 30 March, Ambassador Shigeyuki Hiroki made a speech at an event organized
by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) on the 6th Tokyo
International Conference on African Development (TICAD) to be held in Kenya on 27
and 28 August 2016. TICAD is a Summit-level forum for African development,
established in 1993 through Japan’s initiative, and co-hosted by the the United
Nations, the African Union Commission (AUC), the World Bank, and the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Up to TICAD V in 2013, the Summitlevel meetings were held every five years in Japan. From 2016 onwards, TICAD will
be held every three years, hosted alternately in Africa and Japan. In this context, the
coming TICAD VI will be an even more memorable one, because it will be held in
Africa for the first time in the history of TICAD.
In his remarks, Ambassador Hiroki firstly explained about the history of the
Japanese development and modernization. Until the mid-19th century, Japanese society
was sustained by agro-based feudalism and, due to the implementation of the Sakoku
(national isolation) policy for nearly 250 years, there was little communication with
foreign countries. Since the visit by Commodore Perry in 1853 and the Meiji
Restoration, however, Japan opened its doors to the world and started its
modernization and industrialization processes. Ambassador Hiroki said, under the
processes, ‘ownership and partnership’ was a major principle, and Japan achieved
industrial development with the support from Western countries while maintaining its
traditions and ways of development, which is inherent to the principle of TICAD.
Ambassador mentioned that TICAD, as an open and inclusive forum, has been
developed over the last two decades under the principle of ‘Ownership of and
Partnership with Africa’. For more than twenty years, Africa has faced various
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political and economic challenges, and Japan has always cooperated, hand in hand
with Africa, to solve these matters. For example, TICAD has supported the
establishment and development of NEPAD. TICAD has also carried out concrete
projects, and one of them is a food programme. At the occasion of TICAD IV, in order
to double rice production in Africa from 14 million tons in 2008 to 28 million tons in
2018 , the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) was launched by the
initiatives of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), NEPAD and the
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Through funding several
programmes and dispatching experts as well as volunteers to 21 countries in Africa,
the annual rice production in Sub-Saharan Africa during the year 2013 reached 22.23
million tons.
Ambassador mentioned that, through TICAD processes, the Government of Japan
also assisted rapid economic growth in Africa under public-private partnerships. At
TICAD V in 2013, Japan pledged to contribute to the growth of Africa, utilizing
private and public means of up to approximately USD 32 billion for five years,
including ODA of approximately USD 14 billion. The Government of Japan has
furthermore encouraged investment from Japanese companies to Africa. In the case of
South Africa, the number of Japanese companies based in this country has increased
from 115 in 2013, to 140 in 2015, and they have created more than 150,000 job
opportunities. Those companies have helped to enhance industrialization, including
the auto sector and infrastructure, such as power projects. Japan has also engaged with
regional integration in Africa, and one of the core projects is One Stop Border Post
(OSBP) projects, which help to promote regional trade by resolving bottlenecks at
border areas. JICA, with partners such as the African Development Bank, has been
involved in 14 border posts mainly in East Africa, and in the case of Malaba Border
between Kenya and Uganda, it has been proved that OSBP has reduced 70 million
dollars of transportation costs annually.
For the next TICAD VI, while implementing existing projects for industrialization
and infrastructure development and tackling emerging global issues such as epidemics
and terrorism, Ambassador stated that support for education should be further
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promoted. In the case of the development of Japan and other Asian countries, there has
been a correlation between investment in education and growth of GDP. Ambassador
said that is why Japan has been keen on projects for human resource development. For
example, the African Business Education (ABE) Initiative for Youth, which was
proposed by the Japanese government at the occasion of TICAD V, is providing
opportunities for 1,000 young African men and women for five years to study
Master’s courses at Japanese universities and to gain work experience through
internships at Japanese companies. Moreover, JICA has sent its experts and volunteers
to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), as well as to several
schools, from primary level to high school. TVET is the center for creating the next
generation of skilled workers such as artisans, and Ambassador expressed that support
for TVET needs to be continued to create more major players for the industrialization
and industrial diversification in South Africa. He also stressed that access to education
has to be improved more. JICA volunteers are teaching arithmetic as well as
mathematics, which are fundamental subjects for the development of science and
technology. Besides that, through the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human
Security Projects, the Government of Japan has improved 455 school facilities in
South Africa, including in the Eastern Cape, KZN and Limpopo provinces.
In conclusion, Ambassador said 2016 is the Year of Africa for Japan. In 2013, the
AU adopted Agenda 2063, and since then, African countries have accelerated their
own efforts for the development of the continent. Through TICAD VI, as well the as
G7 Ise-Shima Summit and other opportunities, the Government of Japan with
development partners will demonstrate that Japan will always cooperate hand in hand
with Africa and support agendas on Africa. Ambassador Hiroki said, in order to
succeed in TICAD VI, he would make every effort here in South Africa.
(End)
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