The city of Yokohama is set to host The Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7) from Aug. 28 through 30, as dozens of top leaders from African countries and international organizations will gather in Japan.

TICAD, which was first launched by Japan in 1993, has undergone critical transformations in recent years, and there are plenty of reasons for Tokyo to reform TICAD in the drastically changing African environment.

To avoid direct competition with the growing Chinese presence in Africa, Japan has shifted its focus of economic assistance to quality, rather than quantity, Japanese diplomats and experts say.