Japanese private investment in the African continent reached 20 billion US dollars (USD) in the last three years, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzu Abe announced Wednesday.
Speaking at the opening of the seventh Tokyo International Conference for the Development of Africa (TICAD7), the head of the Japanese Government declared his country’s desire to increase and promote investment in Africa.
He highlighted the financing made in Angola in the field of telecommunications, by enabling the acquisition of equipment and services for the installation of the fiber optic cable from Angola Cables, which allows the Atlantic to be interconnected.
In addition to Angola, he also spoke of other infrastructure projects that the Japanese are supporting in Uganda and Rwanda.
Regarding Rwanda, he announced that they will develop a telecommunications satellite with that country in the Great Lakes Region.
Japan’s support for Africa is not restricted to infrastructure, which is why Shinzu Abe promised new projects in the field of education, for a true transformation of secondary and primary education.
The Japanese will also train specialists in the field of energy and in projects to combat the effects of climate change.
In health, they will provide new financing for the global fund.
Another area of intervention in which Japan intends to act is peace and stability in Africa, which is why it promised to work with the African Union to prevent conflicts on the continent.
Also speaking at the opening were the UN Secretary-General, António Gueterres, and the acting president of the African Union, Abdel Al Sisi, who highlighted the importance of increasing investments in the continent for its development.
The president of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faqui, asked Japanese authorities and companies for innovative solutions for the development of Africa.
He stressed that the continent is “on the move”, despite problems arising from conflicts and the Ebola virus.
He called on Japanese businessmen to meet the expectations created at the time of Ticad6, investing massively on the African continent.
“Our project is to shut up the guns by 2020”, he concluded.