Africa's Structural Transformation Discussed at the TICAD VI Follow-up Event

On April 10, 2017, the JICA Research Institute (JICA-RI), in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) at the Columbia University, co-hosted a follow-up event to the Sixth Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD VI) at the United Nations headquarters in New York, U.S. This event was conducted as a follow-up to the discussion at the TICAD VI in Nairobi in August 2016.

Participants discussed the challenges and possibilities of a structural transformation in Africa to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). On this occasion, JICA-RI and IPD launched the book, "Efficiency, Finance and Varieties of Industrial Policy." This book is a result of the joint research conducted by JICA-RI and IPD.

JICA-RI Director Naohiro Kitano, in his keynote speech, emphasized the main message of the book—combining various industrial policies such as nurturing human resources, promoting infrastructural development, and developing finance is the key to realizing structural transformation.

JICA-RI Visiting Scholar Go Shimada (associate professor at the University of Shizuoka) moderated the panel discussion. Akio Hosono, senior research advisor at JICA-RI and Professor Joseph Stiglitz from the Columbia University discussed the importance of the learning society.