The seventh round of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7) opened yesterday as international attention increasingly focuses on development in Africa.

President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi is attending the conference, in his capacity as the current chair of the African Union, at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Shigeru Ushio, director-general of Japan’s African Affairs Department and secretary-general of TICAD 7, said the conference will examine ways “to develop Africa through human resources, technology and innovation” focusing on “the economy, community and stability”.

Egypt played a central role in preparations for TICAD 7, said Ushio. He noted that engagement in Japanese education projects in Egypt had alerted Japanese officials to the number of African students that come to Egypt to study.

A forum, held on the sidelines of the TICAD 7, will introduce business leaders from Africa, Japan and other participating countries to the latest trends in partnerships and will promote a host of novel investment opportunities. The forum includes sessions with prominent political and commercial figures from Japan and Africa focused on innovation and African start-ups, multi-partnering trade, accompanied by an exhibition showcasing small and medium-sized Japanese companies.

In addition to leading Japanese companies displaying their products and services to African participants at TICAD 7, each African country is allocated exhibition space to showcase the opportunities it offers investors in environmental and industrial projects. More than 250 events are scheduled on the sidelines of the conference, including seminars, discussions, pavilions and exhibitions.

Kotaro Kodama, director of the Middle East and Africa Division at the Overseas Research Department of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), notes that Japan is the world’s third strongest economy after the US and China, and 800 Japanese corporations have opened branches in Africa. JETRO, he added, is now engaged in encouraging medium-sized Japanese companies to invest in Africa.

Small and medium-sized companies account for 99.7 per cent of Japan’s 80,000 commercial companies. Yet Japanese investments in Africa have so far been limited to conglomerates working on gigantic projects in the fields of energy, infrastructure and vehicle manufacture. Kotaro says that no matter the size of business offered by Japanese companies African local authorities should establish conditions conducive to the functioning of Asian companies.

TICAD 7 includes a business expo divided into a section for Japanese companies to offer their projects to African partners, and a second section for African embassies to showcase the investment climate in their countries.

Sawaka Takazaki, deputy director of JETRO’s Middle East and Africa Division, said in 2018 Japan exported goods worth $8.152 billion to Africa, up from $7.503 billion in 2017. In the same period Africa exported $8.972 billion in goods to Japan, up from $8.296 billion.

Of Japan’s imports by value from Africa in 2018 28 per cent were metals, 19 per cent metal fuels, 10 per cent vehicles, nine per cent slag ores, five per cent seafood, five per cent steel, three per cent wood, two per cent nickel and 19 per cent miscellaneous products.

Egypt’s imports from Japan hit $994 million in 2018, up by 19.1 per cent on 2017. Japan’s imports from Egypt reached $271 million in the same period, up by 104.9 per cent.

Makoto Marsumura, senior director of JETRO’s Global Strategy Africa Planning Department, told Al-Ahram Weekly that since 2000 investment opportunities have increased in the natural resources, vehicles and infrastructure fields in Africa. More recently, Africa has become a market for Japan to promote food items and kitchen utensils.

Marsumura said the Tokyo conference highlighted that Africa was an excellent market for Japan and that there were more investment opportunities in the areas of renewable energy, electronic trade, business and innovation. Diversity was the keyword, he added.

The so-called blue economy was high on the TICAD 7 agenda. Countries such as Mauritius and Madagascar have ambitious plans for marine development, an extremely appealing field to Japanese companies, said Marsumura.

Takazaki told the Weekly that Japan’s experience in artificial intelligence could help overcome many challenges facing Africa, including global warming. Technology, he said, can help find alternative ways to grow crops across the continent.

The widespread belief that Japanese, Chinese and South Korean aid packages to the continent were more or less interchangeable was a misconception, said Kodama. China is most experienced in infrastructure, construction and road building, which it does relatively cheaply; Japan has advantages in the environmental and renewable energy sectors; while South Korea excels at mass producing electronic equipment.

TICAD 7, held in the Japanese city of Yokohama from 28 to 30 August, first convened in 1993 in cooperation with the African Union, the Japanese government, the United Nations, the World Bank, and the UN Development Programme.

 *A version of this article appears in print in the 29 August, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly newpaper