THE GOVERNMENT of Japan will over the next five years provide up to $4 billion soft loans to African countries.

This was revealed yesterday by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to President John Agyekum Kufuor and about 45 Heads of State and government representatives when he opened the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) at Yokohama, Japan.

The summit is this year's largest international conference on African development.

It comes at a time when Africa's average economic growth rate has reached six percent, peace-building and democratization are taking hold, and countries are tackling climate change and environmental concerns.

Mr. Fukuda described Japan's gesture as a 'Century of African Growth' and said it positions his country as playing the role of 'Africa's running mate' walking alongside the African people 'shoulder to shoulder'.

He stressed that private enterprises are absolutely critical to Africa's accelerated growth, and therefore to make things easier for Japanese companies to develop businesses in Africa, his government will soon inaugurate a special facility for African investment within the Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JPIC).

A $2.5 billion fund will be set aside over the next five years to engage the public-private sector collaboration as envisaged by Japan, the Prime Minister pointed out.

Mr. Fukuda mentioned infrastructural developments such as road networks which must be quickly linked to transport goods and people smoothly and to ease national border inspections.

“The government of Japan hopes to assist with building 'one-stop border posts' to make crossing national borders more efficient for customs and immigration procedures' and promised to assist in cultivating and training personnel”.

He asked Africa to accelerate its green revolution. “I would like to put out a call for action aimed at doubling the current rice production of 14 million tons over the next 10 years”.

Japan, he said, used to be an agricultural country and rice was its staple food.

With that wealth of knowledge he pledged to assist African countries develop irrigation, improve rice varieties, and to train more agriculture field workers.

He in addition targeted Africa as a beneficiary of a $100 million emergency food package to help with the emerging food crisis which has gripped the world.

In his contribution, Tanzanian President, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, who is also the African Union Chairman, thanked Japan for placing Africa high on its agenda.

“My colleagues and I are here in full force to underline our trust and collect support for the TICAD process which over its 15-year existence has proven to be a very useful instrument for our cooperation,” he said.

Kikwete expressed Africa's desire for increased trade with Japan, although the private sector, he said, sees Africa as a far off land too risky to invest in.

“According to the World Bank, Japanese Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in sub-Saharan Africa between 2002 and 2004 amounted to a measly $415 million, roughly 0.4 percent of Japan's total global FDI flow of $108.5 billion”.

Interestingly, Japanese firms have invested $352 million or 85 percent out of the sum total in just Egypt and South Africa, with the rest of $63 million shared amongst 50 other states, the AU Chairman observed.

He encouraged Japan to put into action all its promises and expressed the readiness of African countries to do business with Japan.

Other Heads of State at the event included Presidents of Gabon; Uganda; South Africa; Rwanda; Senegal; as well as the World Bank President and the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. Continued    Source: Daily Guide - Daily Guide