Japan to hold debt management workshops in 30 African nations

August 29, 2019

Yokohama--Japan will hold workshops about public debt management in a total of 30 African countries as a measure to assist their development, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday.

"Partner nations becoming heavily laden with debts would prevent (companies from) starting businesses there," Abe said at a forum of dialogue with the private sector at the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD VII, in Yokohama, south of Tokyo.

Over the next three years, the Japanese government will annually select 10 African countries for holding the workshops.

The Japanese assistance measure comes at a time when China's so-called debt-trap diplomacy, or the Asian economic giant promising loans to developing countries in the name of economic assistance that eventually put them deep in debt and undermine their sovereignty, is becoming a serious problem in Africa.

Abe also announced a plan to step up assistance in the fostering of human resources, high-quality infrastructure development and other strong areas for Japan, apparently trying to differentiate support measures by Tokyo from those by Beijing.

To Ghana and Zambia, Japan will send advisers on macroeconomic management, in addition to debt management experts, Abe said.

Furthermore, to help enhance Africa's competitiveness in the field of agriculture, the prime minister said Japan will dispatch experts who have accumulated experience at local governments in the nation in nurturing money-making agriculture businesses.

Ahead of TICAD VII, Japan set up in June a permanent council comprising officials of the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and companies willing to make inroads into Africa, for discussing ways to promote private investment in the continent.

Abe said the council's establishment was "the greatest advance" made since TICAD VI in 2016. Jiji Press