Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba unveiled a new regional economic initiative at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9), which kicked off in Yokohama on Wednesday.
At the opening ceremony for the summit-level meeting, which will be held for three days, Ishiba, co-chair of the conference, proposed the initiative designed to enhance economic ties between the continent and regions linking it with India.
He also announced that the Japanese public and private sectors will collaborate to increase investments in Africa.
"It will be an age, from now, in which solutions produced in Africa help global society including Japan," Ishiba said. "Japan hopes that it will maintain reliable partnerships with the continent, providing each other with solutions."
"Let Japan and leaders gathering here from African countries as one meet challenges that the world and Africa have faced, by discussing together innovative means to solve them," he added.
The conference is mainly themed on the cocreation of innovative measures to meet challenges facing African countries through Japanese technologies.
The prime minister stated that it will focus on the regional integrity of the continent and its links with other regions, the sustainable development of its private sector, and young people as well as women across the continent.
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