Japan led TICAD 2022 meeting begins
The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) ministerial meeting begins today.
Today’s meeting aims to promote cooperation between Japan and African countries and set the stage for the eighth TICAD conference in August 2022. TICAD has seen success in recent years. In 2016, TICAD 6 committed $30 billion to African healthcare and infrastructure over three years, and TICAD 7 promised investments worth $20 billion over three years from Japanese private investors and the government. However, COVID-19 has affected operations across Japan’s top investment destinations in Africa.
Expect today’s meeting to produce an outline for private sector development, with dialogue on assistance in the public sector from Japanese financial entities like the MUFG. Development aid to Nigeria and Ghana will likely be agreed upon since they were Tokyo’s top investment locations in that region.
Similarly, due to the oil and gas crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine, Tokyo will push for increased cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector across Africa’s top producers, especially in northern and western Africa. In the immediate term expect no promises or progress. Japan’s presence is smaller in the region compared to other major powers and is reliant on cooperation from countries like the US or UAE.
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