Mozambique: President Nyusi joins Japan’s PM and African heads of state in TICAD-VI, Nairobi

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Mozambique: President Nyusi joins Japan’s PM and African heads of state in TICAD-VI, Nairobi

8:39 CAT | 26 Aug 2016

Mozambique’s president Filipe Nyusi is due in Nairobi today where he will join at east 35 other African heads of state for the sixth edition of the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD VI).

According to the authorities of this country in East Africa, at least 35 heads of state or African Government have confirmed their participation in the event.

A press release from the Presidency of the Republic says that the President’s delegation includes the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Oldemiro Baloi; Agriculture and Food Security, José Pacheco; Transport and Communications, Carlos Mesquita; Deputy Ministers of Health, Mouzinho Saide; and of Industry and Trade, Ragendra de Sousa ; the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Mozambique in Japan, Jose Maria Morais.

About 10,000 delegates are expected in Nairobi on Friday, for the two-day Tokyo International Conference of African Development (Ticad) VI Summit that will start on Saturday.

This is the first time the conference will be held outside Japan, which has hosted the last five events.

Attending will be Japanese Premier Shinzō Abe, his host, President Uhuru Kenyatta, and some 35 other heads of state and government some of whom are already in Kenya, such as South Africa’s Jacb Zuma or Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari.

Shinzo Abe will hold bilateral meetings with some of the heads of state during the summitt and, according to The Citizen, will sign, with Kenya alone Kenya is expected to sign 60 Memorandum Of Understanding.

Japanese companies are quite interested in Mozambique, which has plentiful natural resources. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Mozambique in January 2014, promised cooperation centered on Nacala Corridor development and concluded an investment agreement that was the first in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Nacala Corridor is an economic corridor that connects Mozambique with landlocked countries including Malawi and Zambia, and it is one of three priority development areas decided at the Africa Economic Strategy Conference held in Japan.

Chief Representative Katsuyoshi Sudo of the JICA Mozambique Office said, “JICA has worked out a Nacala Corridor Economic Development Master Plan, which aims for implementation by 2035, and we will move forward with cooperation on repair and expansion of the Port of Nacala — the entryway to the Nacala Corridor, on strengthening electric power generation and conveyance, on improving roads, on developing agriculture, on developing society and on developing human resources.”

Top United Nations officials including Mr Yury Fedotov, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and Director-General of the UN Office in Vienna, Ms Helen Clark, United Nations Development Programme Administrator and Mr Maged Abdelaziz, the Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, are also attending.

Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-VI, 27 – 28 August 2016)

The Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-VI) Summit will be held at Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi, Kenya on 27-28 August 2016. This will be the first time ever a TICAD Summit is being held in Africa since its inception in 1993.

A key objective of TICAD is to mobilize support for Africa’s socio-economic development, peace and security, governance and human rights agendas. In this respect, TICAD underscores the spirit of “African ownership” and “international partnership” and is structured as a multilateral forum inclusive of a wide range of strategic partners and five co-organizers. The TICAD co-organizers currently include:

the Government of Japan,
the African Union Commission,
the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa,
the United Nations Development Programme, and
The World Bank.

The TICAD-VI Summit will focus on the theme: “Advancing Africa’s Sustainable Development Agenda – TICAD Partnership for Prosperity.” This will build on outstanding issues from the TICAD-V Yokohama Declaration and Action Plan, which addressed six critical areas, namely:

Boosting economic growth,
Accelerating infrastructure and capacity development,
Empowering farms as mainstream economic actors,
Promoting sustainable and resilient growth,
Creating inclusive society for growth, and
Consolidating peace, stability, democracy and good governance.

TICAD-VI will also have three additional thematic focus areas reflecting new and emerging challenges and opportunities that have occurred since TICAD-V in 2013, as well as the priorities for Africa contained in both Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These thematic areas are:

“Promoting structural economic transformation through economic diversification and industrialization,”
“Promoting resilient health system for quality of life,” and
“Promoting social stability for shared prosperity.”

Over 6,000 participants are expected to participate in the Summit, including a number of African Heads of State and Government, as well as representatives of international and regional organizations, the private sector and civil society, among others.

The TICAD-VI Summit will feature a number of preparatory meetings, including the Senior Officials’ Meeting and the Ministerial-Level pre-conference, as well as a variety of side events, symposia, business fora and exhibitions mounted by international and regional organizations, the private sector and other interests.

A Nairobi Declaration is expected to be adopted at TICAD-VI, as an outcome document, outlining new commitments made towards Africa’s development.

The Special Adviser on Africa at TICAD-VI

As a co-organizer of TICAD, the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) will be actively engaged in both the preparatory process and substantive organization of TICAD-VI. At the TICAD-VI Summit, OSAA will co-organize one of the thematic session on “Promoting social stability for shared prosperity”, and convene a high-level side event on “TICAD support for democratic governance in Africa through effective implementation of Agenda 2063 and Yokohama and Nairobi Declarations” on the margin of the TICAD-VI, among others.

Thematic Session

The objective of the session is to discuss concrete ways to utilize the TICAD platform to promote and support social stability in Africa, including through the three pillars of:

creating inclusive and sustainable livelihoods,
addressing climate change for shared prosperity, and
sustaining peace through reinforcing good governance with strong institutions.

The session will also provide participants, including senior private sector representatives from Africa and Japan, with an opportunity to share their perspectives and highlight past and future contributions to increasing social stability in Africa.

The Thematic SEssion will take place on Saturday, 27 August 2016, from 3:00pm to 6:00pm, in the Aberdares Hall, Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi, Kenya.

High-level Side Event

This High-level Side Event on “TICAD support for democratic governance in Africa through effective implementation of Agenda 2063 and Yokohama and Nairobi Declarations” is being organized to provide a platform for TICAD-VI participants to discuss concrete ways in which TICAD can further enhance support for the promotion of democratic governance in Africa, consistent with priorities outlined in Agenda 2063 and its First Ten-Year Implementation Plan. The Event will highlight Africa’s own efforts, challenges, opportunities and initiatives in promoting democratic governance particularly through the African Governance Architecture (AGA) and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). It will also showcase and seek to generate support among TICAD partners for Africa’s efforts in monitoring good governance in Africa through the proposed APRM Index and the African Human Security Index.

The High-level Side Event will take place on Friday, 26 August 2016, from 9:00am to 11:00am (local time), in the Aberdares Hall, Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi, Kenya.

Source: AIM / un.org / The Nation / The Citizen / jica.go.jp