Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s one-week diplomatic tour of Africa — his first trip to the continent since assuming office — will be a chance to reaffirm Japan’s role in the region and stimulate private investment amid growing Chinese and Russian influence.
Starting Saturday, the prime minister will travel to four African countries — Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique — before a quick stop in Singapore. It will be the first time in nine years that a Japanese prime minister has made a round of visits to the continent.
Less than a month before the Group of Seven leaders meeting in Hiroshima, which Japan is chairing, Kishida will reaffirm Tokyo and the G7’s commitment to Ukraine and underscore the country’s renewed attention to developing nations. But on Ukraine, Kishida is unlikely to find a united front, given the African reaction to Moscow’s invasion has been fragmented, laying bare a long-standing ambiguous posture toward Russia.