Japan vows to work for ‘more resilient’ African economies
Tunis, Tunisia (AFP):
Japan will cooperate closely with African countries to promote “more resilient” economies, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told the final session of an investment conference in Tunisia on Sunday.
He also promised Japan would use its place on the United Nations Security Council next year to push for a permanent African seat on the world body, a day after announcing $30 billion in public and private finance for the continent.
Senegalese President Macky Sall, chair of the 55-member African Union, backed Kishida’s call for the continent to have a seat on the UN Security Council.
Conflicts “that destabilise us and prevent us from developing must be taken into account by the Security Council” whose mission it is to promote international peace and security, Sall said.
He also called for a greater role for African peacekeepers in resolving conflicts.
The eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) took place in Tunisia, one of many import-dependent countries battered by global supply disruptions and price spikes unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Some 20 African heads of state and government took part in the summit in the North African nation, which brought together around 5,000 people from business and other sectors and shut down major roads across Tunis, causing weekend traffic chaos.