TICAD Participants Agree to Focus on Quality in African Aid

October 9, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese and African foreign ministers and other officials agreed Sunday that it is important to focus on the quality of assistance to Africa in order to ensure debt sustainability for aid recipients.

The agreement was reached at a two-day ministerial meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development that ended the same day in the Japanese capital.

At a news conference after the meeting, Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Japan intends to promote high-quality infrastructure assistance in accordance with international standards.

China has been strengthening its influence over Africa with large-scale financial support, but the Chinese aid has been criticized for causing a debt trap in which the aid recipients are left heavily indebted.

Kono said Japanese assistance to African nations has stalled because falls in their debt sustainability prevent low-interest loans from Japan.

Participants at the TICAD ministerial meeting also agreed to maintain maritime order based on the rules of law and create a free and fair trading system.

On the basis of the results of the meeting, Japan will speed up preparations for the seventh TICAD summit meeting it is scheduled to host in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, in August next year.

The ministerial meeting of TICAD, organized mainly by the Japanese government and the United Nations, was joined by representatives from 52 African countries.

Kono held separate talks with foreign ministers and other officials from more than 20 nations. Jiji Press