GRIPS Development Forum Workshop
How can Japan effectively support economic growth in Africa?
– The African perspective –Summary
Date: 25th July, 2008 (14:10 – 17:15)
Place: GRIPS Room 4A
Presenters
Prof. Dr. Kenichi Ohno (GRIPS)
Mr. J.D. Nkongolo Elumba (Sr. Research associate, GRIPS)
Prof. Dr. Sanga-Ngoie kazadi (Dean, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University)
Discussants
H.E. Mr. Elliy E.E.Mtango(Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary ofTanzania)
H.E. Mr. Stuart H. Comberbach (Ambassador extraordinary andplenipotentiary of Zimbabwe)
Moderator: Prof. Izumi Ohno (GRIPS)
Participants: About 30 people (including the officials of African embassies, aid
agencies, the private sector, researchers, and students)
BackgroundSupporting African growth is one of the research pillars of the GRIPS
Development Forum, and from April to June 2008, we have organized a series ofmulti-stakeholder study meetings to deepen the discussions among a wide rangeof Japanese stakeholders in personal capacity. This workshop was held in order tobring the African perspective into the discussions as well as our ongoing research
programme on “African Growth Initiative”.
On this backdrop, the workshop was opened with two presentations from theGRIPS Development Forum, followed by another presentation from African
professor, Dr. Sanga-Ngoie Kazadi. Two African ambassadors provided theircomments, and then the floor was opened for discussions.

Presentations(Please see the PowerPoint materials for details.)“Background and issues for discussion” (Prof. Dr. Kenichi Ohno)
As a kick-off, Prof. Ohno, with his 13-years involvement in the industrial policy
development process in Vietnam, stressed the importance of an open andcontinuous policy dialogue to enhance the capability of the government and local
stakeholders during the industrial policy development process. He argued thatmany growth-related diagnostics, initiated by Western researchers or donors

have focused on the economic aspect without political feasibility and that
addressing both economic and political considerations in the policy design is oneof the key factors practiced by some successful East Asian countries. He explainedthat the “Dynamic Capacity Development”, which aims to improve ability throughselective hands-on experience—clear goals, focused efforts, trials and errors
etc.— is more encouraging and suitable for developing countries, which are underpressure to implement a wide range of difficult and complex reforms likegovernance.
“Fostering SMEs driven intra-African trade as key to sustainable growth in Africa—
How can Japan help?”(Mr. J.D. Nkongolo Elumba)
In his presentation, Mr. Elumba, a Congolese with long experiences in the private
sector, focused on the role and importance of SMEs in supporting African growth.
He stressed that Africa should develop a new strategy that is really owned by thecountry, with highlight on SMEs development. He explained that strengthening
SMEs would be crucial in consolidating the “Missing Middle” in Africa as well as
promoting intra-regional trade, and suggested that we focus on their learning
process rather than the quick results which are difficult to see in the short term.
While acknowledging the benefits of the mega-projects on the national economy
as a whole, he argued that those projects had not fostered linkage with the local
economy in the past. Thus creating the synergy between them is a futurechallenge in Africa.
“Japan’s support to Africa’s economic growth in the age of global climatechange—Challenges and opportunities” (Prof. Dr. Sanga-Ngoie kazadi)
Prof Sanga, who has been leading a research on the impact and challenges of theclimate change in Africa, offered a different perspective on assisting African
growth. He explained that the economic development efforts in the past had led toserious environmental problems that caused today’s global warming. andstressed that Africa should avoid making same mistakes by introducing moreenvironmentally friendly technology from Japan and other countries. He also
argued that Africa and Japan (and donors in general) should find a new paradigm
for using natural resources, based on mutual profitable partnership.
Comments from African ambassadors
・ Ambassador Mtango agreed on the partnership concept raised by Prof. Sangaand stressed that Japan should define their strategic interests (raw materials,market, etc.) on which they can develop a partnership with African countries.
He also reminded that the regional perspective should not be overlooked whenselecting a number of target countries.
・ Looking back on the past TICAD processes, Ambassador Comberbach
assessed that the TICAD IV was a huge success in contrast to the previous
conferences which had very little achievement in terms of promoting growth.
He stressed that the implementation of the Yokohama Action Plan is achallenge and that Japan should keep engaged by using various businesspromotion packages launched at Yokohama.

Discussions
Discussions centered on the following issues:
1) SMEs development
・ All agreed on the importance of SMEs development. In addition, many African
participants argued that Africa would also need to think ‘Big’, driven by
extractive industry and national/regional infrastructure projects. The futurechallenge is not to choose SMEs or mega-projects, but to combine them andmake the latter having multiplier effects on the national economy as a whole.
・ An African participant pointed out that while the importance of intra-regional
trade is obvious, Africa should also look for the global market. For this, Mr.
Elumba explained that African SMEs should build their capacity step-by-stepand start with targeting the regional market so as to gradually raise theirtechnological knowledge and competitiveness. On regional economic
integration, many observed that while there are some positive movements,
still it has long way to go. Mr. Elumba complemented that regional integration,
if succeed, would strengthen Africa’s bargaining power on the WTO and otherimportant negotiations.
・ A private sector development specialist offered a different perspective on
African SMEs. Noting that the “Missing-Middle” issue is a serious problem, heurged that we should ask ourselves why there are tremendous numbers ofmicro-entrepreneurs in Africa. He argued that many micro-entreprises had soshort life cycle that they could not transform themselves into more dynamic
industries seen in some Asian countries. Against this background, hesuggested that Japan help African countries promote market access andregional market development and others, while re-examining theeffectiveness of its TA policy on industrialization that had been basicallyformulated on the East Asian experiences.
・ Prof. Sanga stressed that we should enter the new partnership paradigm andbased on that, Japan could help SMEs by setting up joint-ventures with them.
He noted that as there are many bankrupt small-scale farmers in Japan, they
could possibly start a small business in DRC (Congo-Kinshasa) where there areplenty of land and resource.
・ Some raised the different and difficult settings African SMEs have been placedcompared to the East Asian Tigers, and asked how donors could assist them inovercome the difficulties.
・ Taking all these comments, Mr. Elumba stressed that economic empowering is
crucial for advancing sustainable development and that African countries
should develop and own their development model that takes into account theAfrican rules and perspectives.
2) Entering the new paradigm and looking for mutual profitable partnership・ The partnership concept, raised by Prof. Sanga, animated the debate. Prof.
Sanga explained that Japan under the Tanaka administration in the 1970s had
already initiated this kind of partnership with Brazil to ensure the import ofsoybeans. This does not mean that Africa should be confined to the raw
material supplier; rather Africa should use natural resources to accelerate
development and to develop an equal partnership with other developed
countries. He stressed that we should enter the new paradigm and that theterm ‘donor-recipient country’ would not be relevant in this sense.
・ Against this, Prof. Kenichi Ohno argued that the proposed equal partnership isa good concept but it may not hold for Japan. He explained that there co-exist

two contradictory opinions (national interests vs. altruism) within theJapanese ODA community and that we would not act solely for national
interests like the Chinese counterparts. In such context, it is more appropriatethat Japan embraces the two pillars as the rationale for its engagement inAfrica. Furthermore, while Japanese big investors are interested inmega-projects, Japanese SMEs are more reluctant to invest in developing
countries. Especially because Japanese presence is very limited in Africa, weshould look for the solution for that.
・ In light of attracting the Japanese interests and investment, Africanambassadors stressed the importance of appealing the Japanese interests andsuggested that African countries approach Japanese investors (especiallyShosha) to create a value-adding process at the country level. Prof. Kenichi
Ohno noted that the Japanese investors are generally cautious and do notmake investment decision from short-term consideration. He stated that using
the business promotion packages, launched at TICAD IV, as well as attracting
other Asian investors (China, Malaysia etc.) as an initial step are crucial ineventually involving those potential Japanese investors.