Tokyo — The closing of the Asia-Africa Trade and Investment Conference (AATIC) Tuesday drew mixed reactions from African delegations who say that although they are encouraged by Japan's engagement on trade and development issues in Africa, they had hoped there would be more business representatives from other Asian countries in attendance and more concrete outcomes.
"We have come a long way," said James Baba, Uganda's Ambassador to Japan. "My impression is that there is a serious commitment by the Japanese government."
During the closing ceremony, conference co-organizers signed a joint TICAD-NEPAD agreement to focus greater efforts on increasing trade and investment between Asia and Africa. Baba said this partnership arrangement is a major success for Africa and demonstrates Japan's "tremendous confidence" in NEPAD.
Many delegates agreed with Baba's assessment, at least publicly, but not all of the participants were pleased with the conference's agenda. They said too much time was spent rehashing common knowledge about the importance of access to credit, good infrastructure and the quality of governance.
"Enough rhetoric!" said Konate Mamadou, head of BEVIA, a meat producing company trading in West Africa, and special advisor to the Mali Chamber of Commerce. "We know what to do, so let us do it."
Mamadou said he wished there had been more concrete proposals, such as better guarantees for banks giving loans to small and medium entreprises or improving companies' ability to evaluate risk in Africa. But he is hopeful that AATIC is moving Asia-Africa relations in the right direction.
"Japanese corporations are the best," Mamadou said. "I would like to see this willingness of Japanese corporations to support corporations in the third world."
Other critics said they had expected to meet more firms from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and elsewhere in eastern and southern Asia. Seventy Japanese firms had representatives at AATIC, but just five non-Japanese businesses participated in the conference.
Albert Ampadu, Marketing and Trade Officer at Ghana's embassy to Japan, said he was "disappointed" by the turn out from Asian businesses. "[There are] no other East Asian businesses, not even many Japanese," he said. "I think they didn't publicize it properly."
Ampadu said that he tried to spread more accurate information about Ghana to the Asian business representatives who were at the conference.
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"Their perception is that Africa is too far and they have this image that Africa is one country," he said.
Shigeru Omori, Director of the First African Division of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shared Ampadu's concern that Asian businesses know more about trade and investment opportunities in Africa.
"That is why we had this conference, to change their views," he said. "We cannot force the private sector to invest, so all we can do is promote and make the environment better for them."
Omori said that AATIC was open to businesses from all over Asia. "We haven't had any policy to exclude." He said the purpose of the conference was to learn from the feedback of the private sector, not to match countries up with potential investors.
Regardless of some African delegations' frustrations, Tesfaye Dinka, Senior Advisor to the Global Coalition for Africa, said significant progress has been made.
"If you keep the ball rolling, you're moving in the right direction," he said. Shifting the debate from questions of aid to promoting trade and investment is the first step, Dinka said, and he hopes this conference encourages Asian companies to engage in Africa.
"The private sector of Asia will not do it for thanks or to get to heaven, but because they think it benefits them," he said.
Another signee to the TICAD-NEPAD document, UN Under-Secretary General Ibrahim Gampari, agreed with this assessment.
"[AATIC] widened the discussion beyond official development assistance," he said. "Everyone now believes that official development assistance is important, but that it's not enough to transform economies, provide employment and really facilitate economic growth."
