Twenty years ago, Japan and a number of international partners founded the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) to help boost human development across the continent.
Since that time, TICAD has played a critical role in raising global awareness of African development issues and providing strategic leadership on development assistance to Africa. Its 1998 Tokyo Agenda for Action proposed concrete human development targets.
In order to respond to Africa's needs more effectively, TICAD transformed itself from a forum for dialogue into a platform for action, launching a wide spectrum of programs to accelerate economic growth, human security and progress toward the Millennium Development Goals across Africa.