• Shikata says that Japan is seeing Africa as a strong potential business partner, but says African countries run the risk of harming their own development if they choose the wrong partner

Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japanese Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs SHIKATA Noriyuki emphasized the importance of the upcoming eighth edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8), which will be attended by Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio.

It will be Kishida’s first visit to Africa as prime minister and he is planning to meet a number of African leaders while in Tunisia for the August 27 and 28 conference.

“Japan wishes to promote support for sustainable development of African countries, good governance and addressing human security issues, which includes universal health coverage and, in today’s context, supporting distribution of vaccines,” Shikata told a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

Shikata noted the increased importance of Africa as a place with business opportunities but warned that developing countries must be careful of who they deal with, leaving no doubt he was talking about China.

“As we see in the case of, for example, Sri Lanka’s situation, if there are projects that may not be viable, those recipient governments or countries will suffer at the end of the day,” the Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs stated.

“We are looking at how we can promote sustainable development over the long term and this requires sustainable infrastructure, openness and transparency.”

Shikata warned against the possibility of countries falling into “debt traps.”

On security matters, Shikata noted that late former prime minister Abe Shinzo’s proposal of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) included African and Middle East countries. He also said that the Ukraine problem was not just a European issue.

“Prime Minister Kishida’s view is that emerging challenges in terms of food security and food prices and energy security issues were brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Some African countries import a lot of Russian wheat, so there may be some countries in the region that may want to preserve that relationship, but Prime Minister Kishida has been making the case that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not just a European issue. We are all connected and this logic applies to Africa, Asia and other regions in the world.”

Japan has long campaigned for reform of the United Nations Security Council and is seeking help from Africa in its proposals. “If he (Kishida) goes to the UN General Assembly next month, these are the kind of issues he will take up. We wish to collaborate with African countries for UN reform, including UN Security Council reform, because in many cases the vetoes of Russia and China are kind of paralyzing the functions of the Security Council.”

Shikata says that Japan is seeing Africa as a strong potential business partner, but says African countries run the risk of harming their own development if they choose the wrong partner.

“There is huge business and economic potential, but at the same time we need to ensure that African countries develop with quality growth,” Shikata explained.

“We see some development finance that could be distorted so we need to ensure that there will be sustainable development finance. Also, some African countries are facing the challenges of democratic governance and the rule of law and conflict-related issues, so that’s where we want to support Africa.”