Under an effort to strengthen its relationship with the continent at a time when the rules-based international order is in jeopardy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Japan has offered $30 billion in funding for development in Africa at the Japan-Africa conference in Tunis.
The official title of the conference, the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8), also coincides with Beijing’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure program, which has helped it increase its influence on the continent.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tokyo would seek to maintain grain shipments to Africa amid a global scarcity while speaking at the meeting in Tunisia on Saturday.
“If we give up on a rules-based society and permit unilateral changes of the status quo by force, the impact of that will extend not only through Africa, but all the world,” Kishida said by video link after testing positive for COVID-19.
Assuring lesser sums for food security in collaboration with the African Development Bank, Kishida stated that the $30 billion in help from Japan would be distributed over three years.
The conference comes after Tunisian President Kais Saied officially seized broad powers through a constitutional referendum that his detractors have dubbed a coup, giving him his largest international platform since his 2019 election.
Saied asked conference attendees to “search together for solutions for African peoples to accomplish the ambitions and dreams of the first generation following independence” during his opening remarks.
He lauded Japan for managing to “achieve growth while maintaining its culture and social customs.”
“The world cannot continue as it was. With all its wealth and assets, Africa cannot watch its people live through poverty,” he said.