Tokyo — Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, opened a major conference Monday in Tokyo on development in Africa, with a billion dollar pledge in grant aid for the poorest continent in the world.
At the start of the third Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad), Koizumi told the summit the money would be used to improve the lives of Africans by promoting health, education and economic growth in Africa.
The US$1bn would come in the form of a grant aid over the next five years, said Koizumi in his opening speech, stressing that, "without economic growth, poverty cannot be reduced."
There was a high turnout of African leaders at the opening of the Tokyo conference, with about twenty African heads of state and government in attendance, as well as senior representatives from throughout the continent. Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, South Africa's Thabo Mbeki and Senegalese leader Abdoulaye Wade - considered three of the architects of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) - were among the speakers at Monday's opening.
All three stressed the importance of Nepad and, like the other African speakers, underlined that investment and an equal footing for trade, as opposed to aid, were the priorities for the continent.
The issue of abolishing agricultural subsidies - which undermine African trade and were in part responsible for the breakdown of the recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations in Cancun - was also raised. Mozambican President Joachim Chissano, speaking in his capacity as the current chairman of the African Union, said: "It's very urgent if we want development in Africa... If we want our peasants to produce more, we need to have all these barriers (to trade) removed."
Speaking to allAfrica.com, several African leaders pointed out that although Tokyo gave aid to the continent, it did not give "orders" unlike other unnamed Western donors. Asked whether this was simple philanthropy-without-strings, or whether Japan expected something in return, Wade and others said Tokyo was interested in seeing a better world for all people and that this was the Japanese philosophy that guided its Africa policy. Japan was, until recently, the largest single aid donor to sub-Saharan Africa.
Tokyo-based observers note that ordinary Japanese are suffering from donor fatigue and question why their government is spending so much money in Africa with so few returns or benefit; they say billions of yen are being spent on a continent with which Japan has no historical, colonial or geographical ties.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Analysts argue that Tokyo is wooing Africa and seeking its support and cooperation, with one eye on a permanent seat on the United Nations' Security Council. Wade immediately rejected that interpretation. But it is an open secret that unable to rely on the military might of the United States - with armed force limited by the Japanese constitution - Tokyo looks for other ways to extend its diplomatic and global influence.
The Japanese government set up Ticad, one of the most important global conferences on African development, ten years ago with the objective of promoting workable development projects on the continent and drawing the world's attention to the problems on the continent. The third Ticad conference is co-organised by the Tokyo government, the Global Coalition for Africa (GCA), the World Bank and the United Nations' Development Programme (UNDP).
In his speech, the UNDP administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, told the conference he felt there needed to be more global commitment to eradicating poverty in Africa, especially by richer nations. "At a time when billions are being pledged to Iraq, the argument that the resources are not available is simply not true. What is missing is political will," he said.
