21 February 2008
Addis Ababa — President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and former High Commissioner for Refugees Ms. Sadako Ogata arrived here on Tuesday for a four-day visit to the African Union Head Quarters in Addis Ababa.
During her stay, Ms Sadako Ogatha is scheduled to meet and hold discussions with AU Commission Chairperson Professor Alpha Oumar Konare on bilateral relations and future areas of partnership.
They will particularly discuss and exchange views on recent African development endeavors in the areas of human security in a bid to enhance economic growth on the continent, an AU media statement said.
Following her meeting with the AU chairperson, Ms.Ogata will address African Union permanent representatives, representatives of the United Nations agencies, the diplomatic community, other institutions and organizations in Addis Ababa.
She will be speaking on the theme: "Present Conditions and Perspective of African Development from the view point of Human Security".
Ms, Ogata will be accompanied by Japanese ambassador to Ethiopia and AU, Mr. Kinici Komano during her visit to the Pan African Body.
Ogata's current visit comes ahead of the Tokyo International Conference for African Development IV (TICAD IV) due to take place from May 28 to 30, 2008 and the G8 Toyako summit billed for July 7-9, 2008.
In order to stimulate world interest in African development after the end of the Cold War era in 1993, Japan began jointly hosting the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) with international organizations such as the UN.
At TICAD III in 2003, Japan announced that it would contribute to African development with the international community and African countries based on the three pillars of human-centered development, poverty reduction through economic development, and consolidation of peace.
At the Asia-Africa Summit held in Indonesia in April 2005, the Japanese government announced a plan to host TICAD IV in 2008 and to double its ODA to Africa over the next three years as part of its continued commitment to assistance to Africa.
The TICAD IV secretariat was established under the Director-General for Sub-Saharan African Affairs, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on November 15 2007, In collaboration with the Secretariat for the G8 Summit, it carries out overall operations of the TICAD IV, which will be held from May 28 to 30, 2008, in Yokohama, including logistics and press-related matters.
JICA provides support according to the following guidelines.
Contribution to MDGs , Deployment of projects with a focus on human security , timely reconstruction assistance in post-conflict countries, follow-up of TICAD III and collaboration with the New Partnership of Africa's Development (NEPAD), among others.
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