The 8th Tokyo International Conference for Development in Africa (TICAD 8), organized by Japan with the United Nations, the World Bank and the African Union, on August 27 and 28, in Tunis, marked the consolidation of the Japan-Africa partnership launched in 1993. This session, which is being held practically on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Tokyo conference, had more impact provided that. Little has filtered through on the speakers and the content of the session prepared in collaboration with Tunisia, the second country on the continent, following Kenya in 2016, to host the Afro-Japanese meeting.
Without Ouattara or Bongo
Behind the scenes, some wondered regarding the absence of certain African figures, such as the Ivorian president, Alassane Ouattara, and that of his Gabonese counterpart, Ali Bongo. “Gabon is preparing to kick off African Climate Week in Libreville,” said a member of the Gabonese delegation present, while a former Tunisian diplomat who had been stationed for a long time in Tokyo explained that “the countries of the East have older relations with Asia and are used to working with the Japan”. In any case, the presence only remotely, due to Covid, of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida seems to have influenced the participation of heads of state.
To read
Ticad: Tunisia, platform for Japanese companies in Africa
In the end, a king (Mswati II, of the kingdom of Eswatini, ex-Swaziland), eight presidents (Senegal, Comoros, Gambia, Seychelles, Guinea-Bissau, Burundi, Central African Republic and Madagascar), 50 delegations and nearly 5,000 participants discussed the future of the continent and the world. A meeting that took into account the effects of the pandemic and the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Elements which, if it were still necessary, led to putting people at the heart of the final declaration and giving priority to development in the conclusions of the economic forum.
Two permanent seats on the Security Council
The Ticad 8 is in line with the previous one, in Yokohama (Japan) in 2019, which was distinguished by the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as set out by the United Nations. With the objective of “building resilient and sustainable societies and lasting peace and stability”, the Tunis Ticad declaration is structured around the achievement of these objectives, as well as structural transformation for a economic growth and sustainable social development. A conclusion that seems to be both a progress report in “the implementation of the Yokohama 2019 Action Plan” and a readjustment in view of the health imponderables and conflicts that have impacted the Ticad process. This is the meaning given to the Tunis Action Plan resulting from Ticad 8, drawn up in accordance with the AU’s Agenda 2063 and the SDGs, and which will be the subject of evaluations in Japan in 2025 at the occasion of the Ticad 9.
To read
Japan will demand a permanent seat for Africa at the UN
The essence of the political component is a request, formulated by all the African countries and supported by Japan, which calls in the name of multilateralism and international legitimacy, but also to correct in particular “a historical error”, a reform of the Security Council of the United Nations so that it grants, within it, a place and a major role to Africa. That is two permanent seats and five non-permanent.
Host of the conference, Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed also called for “strengthening the existing mechanism for recovering stolen assets” and “preventing ces illegal practices, which undermine Africa’s sustainable development efforts, in line with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development. He also urged G20 and Paris Club creditors to adopt “fair and open” lending practices. These words were heard and integrated into the common objectives of Ticad.
To read
Japan – Africa: “The Japanese private sector is still discreet on the continent”
Most of the conference was nevertheless of an economic nature: bilaterally, Tunisia, where 22 Japanese companies employ 15,000 people, obtained a loan of 90 million dollars from Japan and consolidated its relations with the country of the Rising Sun, by submitting to Ticad 80 private investment projects worth 2.7 billion dollars. But the jackpot has returned to Africa: Japan will grant the continent an envelope of 30 billion dollars over the next three years announced, from Tokyo, Fumio Kishida.
Withdrawal from Morocco
These include a $5 billion line of credit in partnership with the AfDB, as well as a grant to support food aid and financing for agriculture, energy transition and infrastructure. And the financing of structuring projects in cooperation with the World Bank, according to Ferid Bel Haj, MENA Vice-President of the World Bank. This is enough to meet Africa’s expectations in terms of investment, technology transfer and training, as recalled by the current AU President, Macky Sall. Which, on a more political level, deplored the departure of Morocco and mentioned the request, expressed by the AU, to join the G20.
To read
The fruits of Japanese cooperation in Africa
Ticad 8 prioritized peace as a sine qua non for development. But it is above all a question of pursuing the commitments of Ticad 7, which are still valid. The resumption of clashes in Libya, which forced Mohamed el-Menfi, President of the Libyan Presidential Council, to reach Tripoli urgently, and to a lesser extent the departure of the Moroccan delegation following the welcome given by the President Tunisian to Brahim Ghali, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), recalled the fragility and complexity of an African political landscape in search of national identities but also of a coming commun.
