Responsibility toward Africa
(From The Japan Times June 1 issue)

アフリカ問題解決における日本の責任

African leaders and their partners ended their three-day Yokohama meeting on African development not only on an optimistic note, underscored by the rather rapid recent economic growth in Africa, but also with awareness of problems the continent faces. These problems include infrastructure, population growth, infectious diseases, climate change, education and health services.

Japan, which took the initiative in launching the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development in 1993 and chaired the fourth TICAD at the end of May, has now been given a better chance and heavier responsibility to help African countries achieve economic growth and improve people's lives.

African countries clearly want private-sector investment to accelerate economic growth. But as Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said in his speech, improved infrastructure is a cornerstone of economic development. TICAD participants stressed the importance of developing infrastructure such as road networks, ports and electricity.

Japan promised not only to double, over the next five years, its official development assistance to Africa to an annual ¥200 billion but also to extend up to $4 billion in new yen loans over the next five years for infrastructure improvement. Japan also promised to create a $2.5 billion fund to help double Japanese private-sector direct investment to Africa to $3.4 billion by 2012.

Slow development in infrastructure is an impediment to investment by private firms. Japan needs to use its money in a manner that maximizes its effectiveness.

TICAD participants emphasized the importance of food security amid concerns over higher food prices and their repercussions on the fight against poverty, and the need to ensure clean water for people, as well as to make preparations to deal with floods and droughts. They also pointed to the need to ensure peace, security and good governance.

Japan's commitment to Africa is especially important because removing the causes of destabilization in Africa, such as poverty and economic gaps, will contribute to a stabler world.

5月28日から3日間、「アフリカ開発会議」は横浜で開かれたが、経済成長を遂げるアフリカ諸国は、インフラ未整備、人口増加、感染症、気候変動、教育や医療の問題を抱えている。

日本主導で1993年に始まった同会議は4回目を迎え、日本政府はアフリカの経済成長と国民生活改善を助ける好機と責任が増した。

アフリカ諸国は民間投資による経済成長を望んでいるが、福田首相の演説にあったとおり、経済成長の要はインフラ整備だ。会議参加国は道路や港湾、電力の整備の重要性を強調した。

参加国は食料高騰による貧困、飲料水不足、洪水や干ばつを挙げて食料安全保障の重要性を訴え、平和、安全、統治の必要性を指摘した。貧困や経済格差などのアフリカ問題の解決は、世界の安定へとつなげる日本の重要な役割だ。