developed countries (LDCs) in Africa that are increasing their efforts to resolve conflicts and overcome other development challenges, and should therefore provide Africa with support necessary to facilitate such self-help efforts.

At TICAD III held in September 2003, more than 1,000 people including 24 president-level representatives attended, representing 89 countries and 47 international and regional organizations from Africa, Asia, Europe and United States. In the Conference, for the purpose of mobilizing international support for NEPAD and promoting a new partnership between Africa and other regions, especially Asia, diverse subjects were discussed with regard to the measures taken by Africa and its partners for the development of Africa. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced in his keynote speech at the TICAD III that Japan would provide Africa with assistance based on the three principles, namely "human-centered development," "poverty reduction through economic growth," and "consolidation of peace" and also that Japan would give Africa grant aid of 1 billion dollars over the following five years in the area of basic human needs, such as education, health and medical care including measures against HIV/AIDS, water and food supply. Japan also expressed its intention to put emphasis on "human security" and "south-south cooperation" in its efforts to support Africa. African countries voiced their appreciation of the contribution of the TICAD process and their strong desire for the continuation of the TICAD process. The participants unanimously agreed to further institutionalize the TICAD process.

Japan has been providing African countries with such diverse cooperation indispensable for its economic growth ranging from assistance for human security, agricultural development, and social and economic infrastructure building to humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to the war-torn areas. Prior to the announcement of the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), Japan announced at TICAD II (1998) its intention to provide assistance of 90 billion yen for the fields of education, water supply, and health and medical care. During the period of five years between TICAD II and TICAD III, Japan provided 4.6 million people with access to clean water, 2.6 million people with access to education, and 240 million people with access to health and medical services. In addition, Japan has provided technical cooperation by utilizing the institutions in Africa, where people from neighboring countries can be trained. Furthermore, Japan has promoted south-south cooperation, on which it provides technical cooperation in cooperation with North African and Asian countries. These activities constitute a major characteristic of the TICAD process. In particular, Asia-Africa Cooperation has been highly valued as a cooperation system unique to Japan, which enables Africa to learn from the experiences of Asian countries that have successfully achieved economic growth with Japan's economic cooperation. Various projects, such as the development and diffusion of NERICA (New Rice for Africa) and the promotion of private trade and investment between Asia and Africa are good examples of tangible and distinctive projects of Asia-Africa Cooperation.

In Africa, conflicts are major impediments to development. It is therefore extremely important to provide assistance to consolidate peace on Africa. Japan has provided assistance for the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration of former soldiers) program to promote reintegration of ex-combatants to African countries that experienced conflicts such as Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire. For example, Japan provided UNICEF (U.N. Children's Fund) with emergency grant aid totaling approximately 440 million yen in March 2004 for the purpose of supporting the DDR program targeted at child soldiers in Liberia.

Africa has 33 of the 42 HIPCs (heavily-indebted poor countries). To help reduce the debts of these countries, Japan is among the greatest contributors to helping these countries to reduce their debts within the Enhanced HIPC Initiative. $ ^{[28]} $ Japan has been actively providing assistance for the countries such as Tanzania and Ethiopia for the implementation of the PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper), the preparation and implementation of which is a precondition to benefit from the Initiative. For example, in order to financially support Tanzania, Japan gave non-project grant aid totaling 500 million yen to PRBS (Poverty Reduction Budgetary Support), which is a system to support the implementation of the PRSP. Japan also provided Tanzania with technical cooperation for the enhancement of the data processing capacity of the National Statistics Bureau so that statistical researches necessary for monitoring of the PRSP be more effective and reliable. (For further information on budget support, see Part II, Chapter 2, Section 2.) In Ethiopia, Japan has been conducting a survey on agriculture within the framework of PRSP in cooperation with UNDP.