(The original article in Japanese was posted on August 26, 2022)

On August 18, before the 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8) that will be start on the 27 of the same month, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) announced its plan to invest in the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI). NEXI is a special company fully funded by the Japanese government, and ATI is an international financial institution funded by African countries. Both of them provide export credit and investment insurance to foreign companies. NEXI will take the opportunity of the capital alliance to strengthen its ties with ATI and utilize ATI’s local information and connections with the governments of various countries, in order to encourage direct investment by and trade expansion of Japanese companies into Africa.

The TICAD is an international conference established in 2013 on the initiative of Japan. More than 108 international organizations from 53 countries attended the previous conference held in Yokohama, Japan. At the conference, the Japanese government pledged to actively support Africa for the development of industrial human resources, promotion of innovation investment, the African Health Initiative, and peace and stability to be achieved on African countries’ own responsibility and leadership, along with the increase of private investment. The 8th conference will be held in Tunisia. Unfortunately, Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan will not physically attend the conference this time since he has tested positive for COVID-19. However, Japan will follow in the wake of the “Yokohama Declaration” and put forward “investment in people” and express its support for the self-sustained growth of African countries in order to counter China that has been going on an offensive with massive funds.

There is undoubtedly great hope for the so-called “last frontier” with a population of 1.4 billion. The Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) released a report titled “Contributing to Endogenous and Sustainable Development of Africa.” In this report, Keidanren recommends that Africa should be redefined and repositioned from a strategic perspective, and Japan’s relation with Africa should be fundamentally strengthened from a medium-term to long-term standpoint, looking at Europe and China already having stronger ties with Africa. Nevertheless, Africa is not a single country. On a country-by-country basis, the national economy of each country is not large at all. Inequality exists in many countries, and water, food, sanitation, and human rights issues are of concern everywhere. Moreover, infrastructure and legislation are inadequate, and many countries practice authoritarian regimes. Twenty-six of the 54 African countries did not vote in favor of the United Nations’ condemning resolution deploring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Political instability also continues. Thirty years of civil war in Somalia have yet to end. In Tunisia’s national referendum on whether or not to amend the constitution, the popular will chose to deteriorate democracy. The French newspaper Le Monde criticized this, saying, “Democracy, born of the Jasmine Revolution, has been buried.” This May, Mali withdrew from the Sahel Alliance, an anti-Islamic extremist framework consisting of five countries in the region lying along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, in which Japan announced its involvement at the G7 summit held in France in 2019. The reason for the withdrawal was opposition to the Economic Community of West African States, which imposed economic sanctions on the country for its delay in transitioning from a military to a civilian government. Mali’s isolation adds fuel to the activities of extremists in the region. Extremist groups in various other regions also remain undeterred. In addition, throughout the region, Western, Chinese, and Russian intentions have been intersecting. The TICAD is going to be held under such conditions. This is a crucial moment for Japan to show how far we are committed to eliminating inequality, eradicating violence, and stabilizing society.

This Week’s Focus, August 26

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President