Ministers and other representatives from Japan and 47 African nations have ended a two-day session of a Japan-led conference on Africa’s development that was held in Tokyo.
Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko co-chaired the ministerial meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD, through Sunday.
Speaking to reporters, Kamikawa mentioned Japan’s newly announced plan to support training programs for women who will engage in peace building in the area of a peninsula in East Africa.
She said the participants recognized the need to expand successful examples in some countries to other nations.
Kamikawa also said they shared the view that it is necessary to build a fair and resilient “startup ecosystem” that continuously fosters innovation. She added that the delegates also recognized the need to create a free and open business environment in collaboration with the private sector.
Kamikawa said the TICAD ministerial meeting adopted a joint communique for the first time. She said she hopes that the experiences and ideas shared in the meeting will be put into practice in each country and that the results and problems will be shared in a TICAD meeting next year.
Japan launched TICAD in 1993 to discuss the development of Africa. A summit-level TICAD meeting will be held in August next year in Yokohama, near Tokyo.