Japan boosts African food aid
2008-05-30 08:45
Yokohama, Japan - African leaders and Japan pledged on Friday to urgently start to ramp up food production, putting the crisis of spiralling prices firmly on the agenda of the Group of Eight rich nations.
Wrapping up a three-day summit, Japan also said it won renewed support for its top foreign policy goal - securing a permanent seat at the UN Security Council - which has been blocked under pressure from China.
Japan held talks with 51 African nations, including 40 heads of state, at a time of growing alarm in Tokyo as emerging economies, particularly China, seal business deals and political alliances on the African continent.
The summit in Yokohama, near Tokyo, comes amid soaring global food prices, which have triggered riots in some countries and prompted the World Bank on Thursday to announce a $1.2bn programme to fight the crisis.
"It is the urgent need for the international community to address this issue in the near-, medium- and long term," Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told a joint news conference.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, head of the African Union, hoped that Africa's concerns, including on the food crisis, would rise to the forefront of the July 7-9 summit of the Group of Eight top industrial powers, also to be held in Japan.
"Africa made its case during this meeting, and in Japan we found partners who are ready to listen and to work with us," Kikwete said. "Suggestions that came out of this meeting will also find their way to the G8 meeting."
A joint declaration with African leaders spelled out Fukuda's call for Japan to help out in a goal of doubling the continent's rice production within 10 years.
It called for microfinancing of farmers and development work to increase the amount of irrigated area in Africa by 20% in five years.
Japan has also pledged to double aid and private-sector investment to Africa within five years.
Japan invested $1.1bn in Africa last year, a paltry sum for the world's second largest economy, while Chinese state-run firms have been stepping up investment in the continent's mineral and energy industries.
Conference on African Development
Fukuda dismissed the idea that China was the cause of Japan's new pledges of aid at the summit, the fourth held under Japan's Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad) initiative.
"We started Ticad 15 years ago, when the Cold War was ending and countries' interest in Africa was very low," Fukuda said.
"It was impossible at the time to think that this was about rivalry with China or the pursuit of resources," he said.
"Africa is an important partner in various respects, such as politics and economy," Fukuda said. "I hope we will have a long-term relationship with Africa."
Still, Fukuda made no secret that he had pressed on Japan's UN bid in marathon bilateral meetings with leaders of more than 40 African nations on the sidelines of the conference.
"I think I gained their understanding on Japan's position on reform of the UN Security Council," he said.
China, which is the only Asian nation with a veto power on the Security Council, blocked Japan's bid three years ago to gain a permanent seat in a proposed expansion of the powerful UN body.
Japan has since been repairing relations with China, which have remained uneasy in part due to memories of Japanese wartime aggression, but Beijing has made no commitment to support Tokyo's UN aspirations.
- Sapa
- SAPA