【Japan-Africa Public-Private Economic Forum side event】Human Resource Development to Bridge African and Japanese Businesses was held in Côte d'Ivoire!

Event title：Human Resource Development to Bridge African and Japanese Businesses
Date：December 24, 2024
Organizer：Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Place：Sofitel Abidjan Hotel Ivoire (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire)

Around 250 attendees (Japan-Africa Public-Private Economic Forum, media, etc.)

* Mr. Diawara, Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology of Cote d'Ivoire, was in attendance and provided his speech after the panel discussion.

Although African countries continue to record high growth rates due to population bonuses and other factors, and there is strong potential for market expansion, factors such as lack of human resources are making investment difficult. In particular, Japanese companies are not familiar with the society, institutions, language, etc. of Africa, especially French-speaking countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, and the hurdle for investment is not low. In order to lower this hurdle, we believe that providing excellent African human resources that “bridge” Japan and Africa will be one of the keys to attracting Japanese investment and creating local employment. This side event was organized to discuss the necessity of human resource development as a concrete measure to achieve this goal, and to clarify through discussions what role each actor concerned should play and how they should cooperate with each other for the future human resource development.

Professor Ahouré, Director of Japan Corner at Felix Houphouet Boigny University Japan Corner, who moderated the event explained the purpose and objectives of the event, and shared his expectations.

Based on her research on Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) over the past 70 years, Professor Cornelissen of Stellenbosch University explained Japanese investment in Africa as seen from the perspective of Japanese companies' expansion into Africa, etc. As a way to foster human resource development, she introduced the multi-stakeholder partnership in higher education, shared activities carried out by Stellenbosch University Japan Center and explained potential approaches to develop human resources that will serve as a bridge between Africa and Japan

In a panel discussion, moderated by Dr. AHOURË, Director, Felix Houphouet Boigny University Japan Corner, the panelists - three representatives of JICA and Private Sectors and three representatives of the Government of Côte d’Ivoire - discussed the following two themes.

For example, the Japanese side said that for Japan and Africa to achieve win-win development, Japan should co-create “with” Africa, and that the attractiveness of the African market for Japanese companies lies in the large number of young people and abundant resources. In addition, they also stated that human resource development is essential, and that it is important to include understanding of cultures as part of developing human resources.

The representative of the Government of Côte d'Ivoire stated that the government is focusing on the development of young people, that efforts have begun to strengthen the integration of education and the job market, and that the government is ready to strengthen cooperation with Japan and institutionalize a co-creation framework.

The International Affairs Bureau of Yokohama City also took the stage to inform the audience about TICAD 9 to be held in Yokohama in 2025, and “GREEN x EXPO” an International Exhibition focusing on “Sustainability” and “Green” to be held in Yokohama in 2027. Also introduced were Mr. Sato, President of the Japan-Africa Friendship Yokohama City Council Members’ League, and H.E. Mr. Weya, former Ambassador of Côte d'Ivoire to Japan, who accompanied the mission and attended the event.

At the end, Mr. Diawara, Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, who was present at the event, expressed his appreciation for the event and reiterated the importance of human resource development from the government's perspective. The Minister concluded the event by expressing his expectations for the future linkage between the public and private sectors in Japan and Côte d'Ivoire, and for the development of human resources to serve as a bridge between the two countries.

This event reaffirmed the importance of human resource development in the public and private sectors to promote investment in Africa. It is also expected promote awareness of Toda Corporation’s new project and to promote cooperation between Japanese and Ivorian officials. JICA will continue to promote its comprehensive activities in Côte d'Ivoire and other African countries, and work to attract attention from both public and private sectors and increase the investment to Africa.