Japan hosts African leaders for development conference

Japan hosted African leaders on Wednesday for a three-day development conference, offering itself as an alternative to China as the continent reels from a debt crisis exacerbated by Western aid cuts, conflict and climate change.

Attendees at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) included Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa, William Ruto of Kenya and UN head Antonio Guterres.

"The debt and liquidity crisis on the African continent is worsening the challenging socio-economic environment and constraining the fiscal space for governments to cast a safety net over its citizens," Ramaphosa's office said in a statement.

China has invested heavily in Africa over the past decade, with its companies there signing deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars to finance shipping ports, railways, roads and other projects under Beijing's Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative.

But new lending is drying up, and developing countries are now grappling with a "tidal wave" of debt to both Beijing and international private creditors, the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, said in May.

African countries have also seen Western aid slashed, in particular through President Donald Trump's dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

TICAD was expected to touch on possible future free-trade deals between Japan and African nations, loan guarantees and investment incentives for Japanese firms, local media reported.

However, Japan's biggest business lobby, Keidanren, warned that Tokyo must work to win the trust of developing nations.

"By actively contributing to solving the social issues faced by countries in the Global South, Japan must be chosen as a trustworthy partner," Keidanren said in a policy recommendation in June.

Africa presents opportunities with its young population and natural resources, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters on Tuesday.

"We will be discussing how we may leverage these human and material resources as a source of vitality and connect them to Japan's growth and the prosperity of the world," he said.

"Rather than focusing on our own needs, we want to carefully identify the needs of our partners and earn their trust, thereby fulfilling our role as a nation," Ishiba said.

Ishiba was set to propose at the conference -- the ninth since 1993 -- an "economic zone" encompassing the Indian Ocean region and Africa, Kyodo News reported.

Japan will pledge to cultivate 30,000 artificial intelligence experts over the next three years to promote industrial digitalisation and job creation, Kyodo said.