AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies
NPIRIPS

Nakasone Yasuhiro

The Japan Institute ofResearch Institute for

Peace InstituteInternational Affairs

Peace and Security

Editorial Advisory Board:

No. 280

Akio Watanabe (Chair)
Ichiro Fujisaki
Masashi Nishihara
Kenichiro Sasae

8 November 2019

Editorial Committee:
Tsutomu Kikuchi
Fumiaki Kubo
Tsuyoshi Sunohara
Shujiro Urata andYasunori Nakayama
Editor & Online Publisher:
Kenichiro Sasae
President, JIIA

TICAD’S UNIQUENESS AND FUTURE
PROSPECTS
Yoshifumi Okamura
・ Unlike other African partnership fora, TICAD is amultilateral framework not only for enhancing
bilateral relations, but also for discussing
development issues of Africa.
・ TICAD is appealing because: 1) TICAD has
provided a suitable ground for connecting good
examples of Asian development to Africa; 2) TICAD
has advocated the principles of “ownership andpartnership”; and 3) TICAD is based on theconviction that business will be an important driving
force for sustainable development in Africa.
・ At TICAD 7, business promotion became top of theagenda. Japan and the co-organizers held a“Public-Private Business Dialogue” to provide anopportunity for business people to discuss businesschallenges directly with African leaders. Also, Japanlaunched the “New Approach for Peace andStability in Africa (NAPSA)”, where Africa itself
explores root causes of conflict and measures toaddress them.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and should
not be attributed to The Association of Japanese Institutes ofStrategic Studies.

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The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

1. TICAD is a multilateral conference for development
The 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7)
was held in Yokohama at the end of last August. TICAD is a summit-level international
conference to which the Japanese prime minister invites national leaders from all
African countries. Japan, the United Nations, the UN Development Program, the WorldBank and the African Union Commission are the co-organizers of TICAD, andnon-African countries, international organizations and civil society groups also
participate. Various countries are holding partnership fora with Africa in recent years.
However, they tend to be bilateral assistance meetings. What sets TICAD aside fromthem is that TICAD is a multilateral framework to not only enhance bilateral relationswith each country, but also discuss Africa’s development issues, in terms of economic,
society and peace and stability.
A quarter of a century has passed since TICAD was first held in 1993. TICAD
grew with each round, and this TICAD 7 conference was the largest ever. More than ten
thousand people attended, including heads of state/ government from 42 countries, andapproximately 240 side events were held. Why does TICAD have such a centripetal
force? Why does Africa welcome Japan to lead the development conference? Let me
answer these questions.
2. What is appealing about TICAD?
First, TICAD has provided a suitable ground for connecting good examples ofAsian development to Africa. Although the “United Nations New Agenda for theDevelopment of Africa” (UN-NADAF) was adopted in 1991, Western countries had noadditional capacity to tackle African development issues and faced a problem of “aidfatigue” due to the disappointing results of aid being ineffective in Africa, and their hands
were stretched with aid to Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union at the time.
Japan, nevertheless, thought that African development should not be forgotten and held
the first TICAD in 1993. Moreover, Asian countries that had been underdeveloped in thepast were making great strides ahead of African eyes. The pathway for development
and economic/political reform in Asian countries attracted interests from Africa.
Consequently, African countries welcomed TICAD as a way of learning from Asian
approaches and experiences.
Secondly, TICAD has from its outset advocated the principle of “ownership andpartnership”, meaning that self-help efforts are the premise for providing aid. Japan
stressed that the need for the recipient countries to formulate its own economic andhttp://www.jiia.or.jp/en/commentary2

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The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

social development plans. This was not a mainstream concept in economic cooperation
with Africa at that time. When offering aid programs, European and American countries
tended to “guide” the economic policies and even “instruct” how to administer theirgovernments of African recipient countries. “Structural adjustment programs” by the IMF
and the World Bank are typical examples of this. The aid provided by Western countries
toward African countries seem to embrace concepts of “charity” and “mission” likely
derived from Christianity. The importance of “charity” and “mission” cannot be denied,but sometimes the underlying assumption could be: “Africa is poor, so we will give.
Africa is ignorant, so we will teach.” However, Japan thinks that economic and political
reforms will not bear fruit if not done by its own initiative. It could be said that therecipients would not get anything if they just wait to be given and taught. Surprisingly,
Africa welcomed this argument because the idea is based on a premise that “you cando it yourself.” The attitude of trusting in the potential of Africa resonated with Africans’self-esteem.
Third, TICAD has believed that business would be an important driving force forsustainable development in Africa. This idea was not widely shared among the experts
of development assistance; business was generally regarded as the pursuit of profit
maximization, leading to exploitation and increased injustice; therefore, public aid wasnecessary. However, Japan witnessed examples of how poverty was alleviated and how
politics and society matured along with economic growth led by commercial sector invarious parts of Asia. So, Japan expected economic growth through trade andinvestment as a promoter of African development.
Donor countries and institutions are now placing importance on ownership andpublic-private partnership. It can be said that TICAD had good foresight.
3. Achievements and prospects of TICAD7
The outcome of TICAD 7 are extensions of the above-mentioned points. First,
business promotion became top of the agenda. However, understandably, Japanesecompanies remain hesitant to expand into Africa. It is because in Africa, basicinfrastructures for transportation and electricity are still underdeveloped, administrative
procedures are unclear, intellectual property protection and legal systems are also weak,
and it is difficult to secure human resources for management. Therefore, Japan and theco-organizers held a “Public-Private Business Dialogue” as an opportunity for Japanesebusiness people to discuss these challenges directly with the leaders of African

http://www.jiia.or.jp/en/commentary3

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The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

countries. Going forward, TICAD will develop into a framework that specificallyaddresses the strengthening of business relationships.
Next, in order to prevent conflicts in Africa, Japan launched the “New Approachfor Peace and Stability in Africa (NAPSA)”. In what sense is it “new”? Traditional
approaches would try to detect undemocratic regimes and cases of human rights
violations, and to punish “perpetrators”. However, a region or country will remain
vulnerable to conflict without the will and ability to practice democracy and human rights
on the ground. Through the NAPSA, Japan will come up with an approach throughwhich Africa itself explores the root causes of conflict and resolutions to it from their own
experiences. The first step in conflict prevention is to strengthen national institutions andestablish national unity. Under the NAPSA, African-led peacebuilding activities,
institution building, and efforts to strengthen the capabilities of governments throughhuman resource development will be promoted.
TICAD will never be satisfied with rhetoric and will always seek specific actionplans and the implementation. Every year, follow-up is done at the ministerial level tomonitor and ensure progress. Going forward, I would like readers to pay attention tohow the visions set out at TICAD 7 will progress.

Yoshifumi Okamura is Ambassador for Tokyo International Conference on AfricanDevelopment (TICAD), and Representative of the Government of Japan for the International
Peace and Stability.

http://www.jiia.or.jp/en/commentary4