PRESENTATION BY H.E.Mr FRANCOIS OUBIDA, AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY
AND PLENIPOTENTIARY OF BURKINA FASO TO JAPAN, CHAIR OF THE AFRICANDIPLOMATIC CORPS TICAD COMMITTEE AT SESSION OF THE 2nd JAPAN-AFRICA
BUSINESS FORUM

TICAD AND BUSINESS: FEEDBACKFROM YOKOHAMA PLAN OF ACTION
TO THE NAIROBI DECLARATIONINTRODUCTION
Excellencies
Dear participants
I am humbly honored to be standing here today on behalf of the African
Diplomatic Corps, in my capacity as Chair of the TICAD Committee, toshare with you our views on the important perspectives of TICAD process,especially TICAD VI on business partnership between Japan and Africa.
My purpose is not to repeat what many of you can say better than I do. I will
focus on the following:

SUMMARY• Background of the decision taken in Nairobi• Implementation process• What we expect from both private sectors and government for a
successful TICAD process in promoting businessBACKGROUND• In Yokohama, our Heads of State and Government have resolved to use
TICAD framework as an engine to promote private sector-led growth. Thisresolve was reflected on paragraph 3.1 which reads as follows:• 3.1 Promoting Private Sector-led GrowthAffirming that the private sector is a vital engine of growth, we will
support and strengthen the private sector, promote greater private
investment, and improve the investment climate and legal and regulatory
frameworks. We will encourage expanded trade, tourism and technology
transfer, and assist the development of the SMEs. We will also support
regional integration to expand intra-regional trade and create newopportunities for private sector development and employment.

II. IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
From this standing point, the African Diplomatic Corps through the TICAD
Committee has undertaken key activities for the implementation, in close
consultation with Japanese stakeholders:• Government representatives• Private sector representatives• Civil society representatives
Meanwhile, we have also engaged our respective Governments on actions to
be taken accordingly. As matter of fact, we have taken many of them toeither JICA or JETRO in view to apply for funding.

II. Implementation process (continued)
1.

Lessons learnt at this stage

From business sectors
Japanese Side- big corporations’ stance are:•
We have no information on the opportunities in Africa;•There is a language barrier;•
We know/have nobody/network which could support us for business inAfrica;- Small businesses are ready to go but say they have no financing

II. Implementation process (continued)• From Japanese Government side
The good news is that the Japanese Government is strongly committed
at all levels and ready to take up the challenges.
• From the Civil Society
There is an unprecedented involvement through advocacy for more
support to Africa.
The conclusion is that there is a strong will at all levels but moreactions need to be taken in view to address the pitfalls.

II. Implementation process (continued)•Some challenges were also observed at the Government level•••

Existing financing mechanisms are not promoted appropriately;
Decision process for financing is quite slow at JICA level; budget is insufficient;
Procedure is quite impossible at JBIC level; High interest rate; paperwork;
guaranties, etc.

Other challenge is a bias in the perception of investment in Africa• Many Japanese companies just assimilate investment to the implementationof projects funded under ODA.
Actually, behind the big corporations’ stance, there is in fact a fear for investing inAfrica. They consider the risk to be highest than the benefit o get.

II. Implementation process (continued)• Challenges from African side
• Most African business people are enthusiastic participating to businessevents hosted in Japan. They spare no resources to attend because they
do believe that they will get good opportunity to build a strong
partnership with Japanese companies. Usually they have a project topromote with the wish that they will attract a partner which will come inwith money and technology for the implementation.
But at the end of the day, they return home either frustrated or with ahope which will turn to be short.
Financing is a major issue for African business and TICAD didn’t take it onboard. The approach is one sided: only Japanese business can have accessto Japanese loans. African side will only get it when they partner withJapanese companies.

III. ACTIONS TAKEN
Informed by the above stated,
2. Many actions were engaged immediately through forums and seminars held at all levels(Continent, regional and individual country), of which:
•••
••••
•

First Japan-Africa business Forum in 2014;
ECOWAS business Forum in 2015;
SADC business Forum in 2016;
Business tours to individual countries;
Panels with Japanese media;
Panel with Japanese business Sector;
Panels with Civil society;Etc.

The goal was of two folds:• Matching Japanese Business people with their African counterparts with the hope that
this would give room for the establishment of partnerships and signature of MOUs;• Bridging the information gap.

III. ACTIONS TAKEN (continued)
3. Suggestions were also made for consideration by in the TICAD VI process
To Japanese Government:• Increase JICA’s budget and request JICA to review its procedures for more
efficiency and speedy answer to the Companies demand of financing.
• Establish a Forum between Japan and Africa for more interaction between
the business sectors from both sides.
• Establish an information center which would make information on
opportunities in Africa available to Japanese companies• Admit African Development Bank as TICAD Co organizer• Give more room to civil society in the process• Encourage triangular cooperation• Increase the budget of EPSA at the AfDB and open loans for Africancompanies and ABE Initiative trainee when they partner with JapaneseCompanies

III. ACTIONS TAKEN (continued)

Jointly to Japanese Government and African Development Bank• One of the major decisions during TICAD V was the offer by Japanto train 1 000 young Africans through the ABE Initiative.
• The philosophy behind this initiative was to build the confidence
between Africa and Japan in blending the beneficiaries of thescholarships into Japanese culture, giving them a unique
opportunity to learn Japanese language and also build a businessnetwork through a hand on training in leading Japanese companies.
• African young people have positively reacted to this initiative. The
demand has exceeded the number of available scholarships. As
matter of fact, it was advocated for an increase of the number ofscholarships and the improvement of the distribution among thecountries.

IV. NAIROBI DECLARATION•

Landmarks decision at TICAD VI.

Japanese Government has taken on board most of the above suggestions andannounced very important measures during TICAD VI in Nairobi. The mostimportant are as follow:
1. Statement in Nairobi TICAD VI Declaration
Paragraph 3.1.3. We also emphasize the significant role played by the private sector
and the importance of improving the business environment to promote trade andinvestment to create employment, especially for women and youth. We will takemeasures to enhance the role of private sector in development, including throughincreased private investment, entrepreneurship, business reform, innovation,
public-private partnership and access to financing. We will encourage theintroduction of incentives that would serve as an encouragement for industrialists
to establish and enhance production capacities in Africa.

IV. NAIROBI DECLARATION (continued)
2. Actions taken in Nairobi
This statement was elaborate further in the implementation plan, pillar 1 dedicated to Promoting
structural economic transformation through economic diversification and industrialization .
This paragraph recognizes that structural economic transformation through diversificationand industrialization depends on progress in a range of areas. It therefore encourages public
and private sector actors as well as relevant organizations to take clearly-defined measures tosupport:• 1. Economic diversification and industrialization• Region-wide development• Promotion of trade facilitation measures such as efficient custom procedures• Facilitate acceleration of Africa's own initiatives such as the African Union NEPAD'sProgramme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).
Promote high quality research, technology transfer and innovation• Food value chain (FVC)• Provide support to FVC
Promote market-oriented sustainable agriculture and fisheries for small scale farmers andfishers.

IV. NAIROBI DECLARATION (continued)• Develop capacity of human resources• Promote industrial development in Africa through financial, technologicaland other support• Enhance support to rural communities, especially women and youth,• Agriculture and blue/ocean economy• Increase agricultural production, commercialization and productivity inline with the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme(CAADP) process.
• Encourage dialogue to increase the coherence of agricultural policies,
strategies and investment plans with trade and industrial development
policies and strategies• Promote Africa's blue/ocean• Expand and strengthen agribusiness investment

IV. NAIROBI DECLARATION (continued)
2. Quality infrastructure• Construct and manage quality transport infrastructure,• Develop large infrastructure for electronic communication band to reducethe digital divide.
3. Private sector and human resources
Productivity and quality standards• Introduce effective working methods, such as KAIZEN,.

IV. NAIROBI DECLARATION (continued)
Business environment, trade and investment• Improve the business environment by developing Special Economic Zones (SEZ),• Encourage innovation and ICT development to enhance productivity andeffectiveness of existing industries and to create new business opportunities andjobs.
• Expand support to and enhance the role of African private sector including
SME/SMIs by providing financing, including in partnership with multilateraldevelopment banks, such as the African Development Bank.
• Enhance national efforts for improving domestic regulation, strengthening
regulatory institutions, ensuring more simplified, stable and transparent rules andoperations, promoting fair competition, and for concluding the Trade Facilitation
Agreement.
• Promote capacity building for negotiation for complex contracts to secure fairrevenues from the natural resources in Africa,• Develop partnership between CSOs and private sectors with a view to nurture
corporate social responsibility.

IV. NAIROBI DECLARATION (continued)Human resources development• Develop human resources particularly in the field of science,technology and industry, including fostering women entrepreneurs
and researchers, through such initiatives as providing vocational
and technical training and improve access to quality primary,secondary and higher education.
• Promote utilization and access to, as well as elaborate national
policies and strategies of new technologies of information andcommunication in the education sector.
Public-private partnership• Establish a high level business forum between Africa and developed
countries with participation from both public and private sectors.
• Practical measuresIV. NAIROBI DECLARATION (continued)
Furthermore, Prime Minister Shinzo ABE has announced the following:• Increase of the ABE Initiative scholarships to 1 500;
• Increase EPSA up to USD 3.5 billion;• Extension of credit line at JBIC for one year term by US$2 billion.

V. EXPECTATIONS FROM BOTH PRIVATE SECTORS AND GOVERNMENTS

The Forum should reflect on concrete actions in view of the implementationof the following concept contained in Nairobi Declaration:‘’We will take measures to enhance the role of private sector in development,
including through increased private investment, entrepreneurship, businessreform, innovation, public-private partnership and access to financing. We
will encourage the introduction of incentives that would serve as anencouragement for industrialists to establish and enhance production
capacities in Africa’’.
The questions we must ask ourselves are:••••

How to increase the role of private sector investment? Entrepreneurship?
What shall be the priority in business reform?
What kind of innovation might be useful?
How to facilitate access to financing?

V. EXPECTATIONS FROM BOTH PRIVATE SECTORS AND GOVERNMENTS(continued)• It is the ADC hope that the high level panelists who will be speaking today
and tomorrow will help pave the way for a concrete proposals to ourMinisters during their meeting scheduled to take place in Maputo inAugust 2017.
• The ADC would like to see more proactiveness of the African businesssector in proposing suitable candidates to be selected in the process ofABE Initiative scholarships;• We would like to see Japanese and African business sector come up withnew partnership initiative in view to building a long lasting confidence,
through joint bidding at national and international levels, use of available
financings where African side should use the loans made available byTICAD process in combination of Japanese leading technology toimplement projects;

V. EXPECTATIONS FROM BOTH PRIVATE SECTORS AND GOVERNMENTS(continued)• We wish to see Japanese companies which are still
reluctant use their third countries partners to invest inAfrica;• African business sector could help promote Japanesetechnology if their counterparts in Japan take a bold step toselect them as their representatives;
To our Governments• There is an emergent need to go forward with thepromotion of trade facilitation measures;• TICAD VI has also called for the negotiation and signature ofagreements such as mutual promotion and protection ofinvestment and Non double taxation. Let’s make it happen.

V. EXPECTATIONS FROM BOTH PRIVATE SECTORS AND GOVERNMENTS(continued)• We call upon Japanese Government to make loans available
for Japanese holding good plans for investment in Africa;
Many countries might be more comfortable withSMEs/SMIs. Their presence will probably pave the way forHi-tech consortiums to come in.
• Open loans for the beneficiaries of the ABE Initiative
trainees who might have relevant start ups;
• JETRO is expected to support African Institutions in chargeof business promotion; We would like to see such support
extended to our Regional Economic Commission in view tohelp them promote business relation with Japan in theirpolicies.

VI. CONCLUSION•••

We would like to take the opportunity to commend the Japanese Government for its resolve tosupport African development policy. TICAD was established as a platform to mobilize international
support for Africa at a time of a fatigue and a prevailing afro pessimism. Today, many countries havepositively responded to TICAD appeal (Turkey, India, US, France, Republic of Korea, just to namefew. On the same vein, the Japanese Government has strongly advocate for the alignment of TICAD
to MDGs and then SDGs. TICAD VI has responded to the demand of African countries by taking on
board the African Union Agenda just adopted.
It is our view that TICAD should not last forever. We see it as a circumstantial response to asituation. The positive results must be boosted to make them irreversible. Industrialization will
never happen unless investment capital is available. Prime Minister ABE has announced at TICAD VI
that Japanese private Companies are expected to invest around US$ 20 billion in Africa. We
shouldn’t put the burden on them as we know how hard the economic crisis is their reluctance. We
rather urge Japanese Government whether individually or through other partners, to make theshare expected from the private sector available within the African Development Bank in theframework of a revised EPSA. This fund should be used for loans to implement projects held byeither African or Japanese and using Japanese technology.
We also recommend the compilation of all available information on existing financing mechanism
in Japan including the required procedures in view to avail it to the public.

THANKS• Thank you very much for your kind attention• Merci beaucoup de votre aimable attention• Arigato gozaimasu
Tokyo, July 25, 2017