Top African and Japanese business leaders held the first business-focused meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development on Thursday in Yokohama, underlining Japan's strategic policy shift from government aid to promotion of investment as international competition on the continent grows.
"With abundant natural resources and a steadily increasing population, the African economy has high growth potential. It is developing into a region that attracts global attention," said Satoshi Ozawa, co-chairman of the sub-Saharan affairs committee of Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), the nation's most powerful business lobby, at the session.
TICAD was launched in 1993 by Japan, long a pioneer in international African development conferences. It is the first time a business dialog has been held as a plenary session at TICAD, which was originally focused on official development assistance.