THE Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has opened discussions with the Secretariat of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Accra on how to maximise the benefits of the trade pact for businesses in Africa.
The discussions are to explore the
possible areas of cooperation between the two sides for JICA to invest
resources and technical expertise to help enhance the opportunities for
businesses.
The agency is also collaborating with
the World Bank Group on what the two can do to ensure that the private sector
is well equipped to participate in and benefit fully from the initiative.
The Vice President of JICA, Ryuichi
Kato, disclosed this during a virtual press interaction with journalists across
Africa.
TICAD8
The press conference was co-hosted by
Mr Kato and the Deputy Director-General of the Department of African Affairs in
the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tadayuki Miyashita, who spoke through
interpreters.
It was a precursor to this year's
Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Tunis,
Tunisia.
The eighth edition of the annual
conference, this year's TICAD is scheduled to take place from August 27 to 28
in the Tunisia capital.
It will be co-hosted by the MOFA and
JICA, Japan’s international development assistance arm.
This year’s event is expected to
feature conferences on how Japan can enhance its support to Africa to build
back better from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine
crisis.
It is the second time since 2016 that
the conference will be held in Africa since it was introduced in 1993.
The JICA Vice President made a
presentation titled: ‘JICA’s development cooperation in Africa under the global
multiple crises; 30 years of TICAD assets & perspective towards TICAD8.’
Collaboration Towards a resilient,
inclusive, and prosperous Africa
The Vice President of JICA said Japan,
through its international assistance agency, has been a critical component of
private sector development in Africa and would continue to support critical
stakeholders in the continent to create opportunities for businesses.
Mr Kato said the agency saw the AfCFTA
as a great opportunity for opening up trade among African countries and efforts
to maximise its gains would be prioritised.
He noted that while the free trade
area was critical to Africa’s development, its successes could be limited if
the right programmes were not put in place.
He said it was in the light of this
that JICA opened discussions with the Secretariat in Accra to explore the
avenues to create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
He said similar discussions were
ongoing with the World Bank for a better perspective on how international
agencies can make the initiative a bigger success.
Mr Kato was hopeful that the
discussion would be concluded soon to pave the way for a framework through
which JICA can assist the AfCFTA Secretariat to maximise the gains of the pact.
Resilience
Touching on how to build a resilient,
inclusive, and prosperous Africa, the JICA Vice President said the TICAD8 would
discuss in delay how Japan and JICA would support the various countries further
to recover from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing
Ukraine/Russia war.
He said the discussions would cover
food insecurity, climate change and debt sustainability.
He said it would also examine how to
balance the development approach in the long-term with humanitarian assistance
for emergencies in the short term.
He said it would further explore the
potential of Africa’s youth and innovation and how to create better conditions
for them to utilise their talents.
Source: Graphic.com.gh