Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori leaves Sunday for a nine-day trip to South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Greece with the aim of boosting diplomatic ties with sub-Saharan Africa. He will be the first Japanese prime minister to visit the region.
Mori's main goal is to follow up issues raised at July's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, including battling infectious disease, addressing poverty, the refugee problem and the digital divide, a government official said.
During the Okinawa summit, Japan pledged $15 billion for information technology-related projects in developing countries over the next five years, as well as $3 billion for measures to combat AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases.