I would like to express my deep gratitude and sincere thanks to The Japan Times for highlighting the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development being hosted by Tunisia on Aug. 27 and 28, with the participation of a high-level Japanese delegation headed by Prime Minister H.E. Fumio Kishida.
I would like also to thank your esteemed newspaper for giving me such precious tribune to promote this historic summit, the second to take place in Africa since Kenya hosted TICAD VI in Nairobi in August 2016.
Tunisia has the great honor to welcome its guests, from Japan and Africa as well as the co-organizers of TICAD, namely the United Nations, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank and African Union Commission, alongside private-sector executives and civil society.
This summit, which Tunisia has the privilege to host, comes in a sensitive international context characterized by a period of economic stagnation resulting from the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the disruption to economic systems and supply chains caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
These challenges make the TICAD 8 summit in Tunis an important framework for studying ways to advance Japanese-African partnerships within an approach based on mutual benefit and to ensure human security and sustainable development for all the peoples of the African continent, who are still facing serious development and economic challenges. In this regard, TICAD remains one of the major instruments for implementing the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as African Agenda 2063 with an emphasis on people and quality growth.
Japan has always been a strategic partner for us, and the choice of Tunisia to host TICAD 8 is evidence of the Japanese government’s confidence in Tunisia and its ability to host such major events.
Tunisia and Japan established their diplomatic relations in 1956. We are proud of the long-standing partnership and strong economic, cultural and political ties between our countries. While our relations are witnessing a remarkable dynamic, we believe that the TICAD 8 summit constitutes an unprecedented opportunity for our countries to further deepen their cooperation and promote it to high levels in different sectors of common interest.
As the host country, Tunisia started preparing for TICAD 8 several months ago, including the creation in January of the National Organizing Committee. Tunisia will spare no efforts to provide all necessary conditions for the success of the summit in terms of logistics, organization, health protocols and substance.
In my capacity as the TICAD committee chair within the African Diplomatic Corps in Tokyo, I would like to highlight the great contribution of the ADC in the preparatory process for TICAD 8, as has been the case in previous summits. In this regard, several online and in-person conferences and meetings were organized with the major stakeholders of TICAD in the past two years.
Holding TICAD 8 in Tunisia is an extraordinary opportunity to show the country’s potential. Situated at the northern tip of the African continent, with a strategic position at the heart of the Mediterranean, Tunisia is well-positioned as a regional hub offering many advantages and incentives for business, investment and knowledge.
Our expectations, as the host country, are many: First, that TICAD 8 will constitute a major milestone in strengthening cooperation and partnership between African countries and Japan. Second, we are expecting the active participation of the Japanese and African private sectors. Last but not least, we believe the Afro-Japanese partnership will not be limited to economic aspects, but will also cover all the human dimensions based essentially on knowledge, solidarity and the values of peace and security.
Indeed, TICAD 8 will be an ideal framework to discuss ways and mechanisms to raise the level of the African-Japanese partnership. It should be also an event to promote Africa, “the shining continent,” as former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described it, and the one that all experts predict will be the most attractive economic destination for foreign investment in the world by 2050.
We are certainly sharing with Japan our high ambitions for TICAD 8 and looking forward to a successful event that would mark a new milestone in the process of strengthening Japan-Africa partnership.
I would like to conclude by inviting you to participate in TICAD 8 and reiterating the readiness of Tunisia and its honor to welcome you to this important summit.