Objectives of TICAD IV
Africa has sustained steady improvements in democratic governance, socio-economic growth and development over the past few years. The continent’s recent growth performance, which improved significantly from just fewer than 3 per cent in 1999 to 5.2 per cent in 2006, and to a projected 6 per cent in 2007, has been quite impressive.
If Africa maintains the groundbreaking political transformations that are taking place as illustrated by the African leaders’ vision of the United States of Africa as well as recent positive economic trends, the continent has the potential to make irreversible progress towards peace, stability and prosperity. TICAD IV endeavors to continue mobilizing laudable efforts by the international community to support Africa in fulfilling its promise.
Under the overall objective to foster a vibrant Africa, TICAD IV addressed the following three priority areas:
- Boosting economic growth;
- Ensuring “human security”, including the achievment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the consolidation of peace and democratization; and
- Addressing environmental issues and climate change.
Results from TICAD IV are expected to be fed into the G-8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit scheduled to be held from 7 to 9 July, 2008.
It is worth noting that the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize established in 2006 to recognize outstanding achievements in the field of medical research and services was awarded for the first time during TICAD IV. Dr. Noguchi was a famous Japanese researcher who died some eighty years ago in Ghana, where he lived and carried out research on yellow fever.