had already signed Exchange of Notes for relieving more than its pledge thus fulfilling this commitment. At the Asia-Africa Summit in April 2005, then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced a pledge to double ODA to Africa over the ensuing three years. Based on disbursements made in 2003, Japan aimed to disburse approximately US$1.7 billion (approximately ¥180 billion) for Africa in 2007, and despite stiff circumstances surrounding the ODA budget, Japan was successful in meeting its commitment.

### 3. Key Agenda of African Development

At the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) held in May 2008, lively discussion was held on the direction of future African development in order to bolster the positive change in recent years. The conference was held under the basic theme of Towards a Vibrant Africa: Continent of Hope and Opportunity, and was focused on the priority topics of (1) boosting growth in Africa, (2) ensuring human security, including the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and consolidation of peace and good governance, and (3) addressing environmental issues and climate change.

“Boosting growth in Africa” aims at enhancing assistance for sustainable growth so that the robust economic progress in Africa can benefit a wide variety of people including those facing poverty. “Ensuring human security”

Ms. Wangari Maathai giving a speech (Source: AFP=Jiji)

consists of assistance for achieving the MDGs, the consolidation of peace, and assistance for good governance. "Addressing environmental issues and climate change" was discussed based on the recognition that Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change even though it is the smallest emitter of greenhouse gases. It was pointed out that assistance should be provided especially for efforts to adapt to climate change and to remove obstacles hindering growth. Accordingly, the conference aimed to combine the wisdom and resources of the international community in order to provide necessary assistance. At the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit in July 2008, the G8 welcomed the important contributions of TICAD IV and all parties recognized the importance of improving the business environment, developing infrastructure, agriculture, governance, and peace and safety for achieving economic growth in Africa and the MDGs.

### Section 2. Accelerating Growth

### 1. Developing Infrastructure

In order to stimulate accelerated growth in Africa, it is important to develop regional infrastructure focused on road and power networks. The fourth annual meeting of the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA), which is a major framework created from the G8 process for discussing infrastructure development in Africa, was held in Tokyo in March 2008. Japan led the discussions at the meeting, pointing out the importance of road and power networks as a regional infrastructure spread over the entire African continent. A common awareness was shared on the great importance of developing regional road networks for boosting growth in Africa, and participants acknowledged the importance of a "software-oriented" approach, including the streamlining of customs procedures ("one stop border posts"), in addition to "hardware-oriented" approaches. Moreover, there was a common view on the necessity for developing undeveloped roads (so-called "missing links") and connecting them to road networks, and the need for setting an order of priority for development. Africa noted it is currently deliberating an appropriate criterion for deciding the order of priority.

Regarding the development of a regional power network, all participants expressed the common view of the need to develop a regional power network centered on the power pools located in southern, eastern, western, and central Africa, in order to address the current lack of sufficient