An Open Symposium on African Development Held at JICA-RI.

In her opening remarks, Akiko Yuge, Director of UNDP Representative Office in Japan and Special Advisor to the Administrator, noted a paradox that whereas there was a remarkable economic development and rich agricultural resources in Africa, this rapid development hasn’t secured food supply for the majority of Africans.

In the first part of this symposium, Pedro Conceicao, Chief Economist at UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, outlined the Africa Human Development Report. Mr. Sumio Kusaka, Director-General for Africa at MOFA and Mr. Kazushige Taniguchi, Special Representative of Japan at the World Bank, both TICAD co-organizers, commented on this overview.

In the second part, Mr. Eiji Inui, Director-General of Africa Department at JICA, and H.E. Mr. Stuart H. Comberbach, Ambassador of Zimbabwe, and others discussed as panelists on “Challenges of TICAD V and Japan’s Role.” In his speech, Mr. Inui stressed that donors should respect the ownership of African countries and work with private sectors and NGOs.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Akio Hosono, Director of JICA-RI, briefly introduced the two successful cases of Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) and the Cerrado Agricultural Development in Brazil, emphasizing the importance of learning from good experience in the South.
He concluded that JICA-RI is committed to a continued discussion on food security and resilience building towards TICAD V.