Japan established its Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in 1993 – a model that was followed by others and saw a growing number of high-level summits on Africa, including in China, India, Turkey and Russia.
TICAD VII, held in August 2019 in Yokohama, sought to strengthen partnerships between Japan and Africa in three main areas: technical cooperation; business and women’s entrepreneurship; and next generation and people-to-people connectivity.
The first UK-Africa Investment Summit held in January 2020 highlighted similar themes, with an emphasis on investing to generate sustainable growth and create jobs. In an increasingly multipolar world with a greater need for international cooperation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, shared goals and interests among various African countries, Japan and the UK could bring opportunities for fruitful trilateral and multilateral cooperation.
Read a summary of the conference in English and Japanese via the Chatham House Library.
Participants
Speakers:
Professor Naohiro Kitano, Visiting Fellow, Ogata Sadako Institute for Peace and Development, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); Professor, Waseda University
Dr Folashade Soule, Senior Research Associate, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
Masa Sugano, Deputy Executive Director, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Africa Region
Professor Scarlett Cornelissen, Professor of Political Science, University of Stellenbosch
Norio Suzuki, Chief Planning Officer, BBOXX
Serge Mouangue, Founder and Art Director, WAfrica
Professor Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo, Professor of Political Science, Wells College
Chairs:
Dr Alex Vines, Director, Africa Programme, Chatham House
Dr Champa Patel, Director, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House
