The Three Pillars of TICAD

The TICAD Initiative has spurred a wave of innovative activities in its three pillars:

1) Consolidation of peace;
2) Human-centered development; and
3) Poverty reduction through economic growth.

The TICAD initiative underscores the importance of South-South cooperation, especially the improvement of agricultural productivity and the development of trade and investment between Asia and Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Consolidation of Peace

• Armed conflicts in Africa have resulted in major human suffering, including disruption of economic activities and civilian life. The TICAD Initiative has provided support to a wide range of initiatives in assistance to refugees and internally displaced people; disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants into society; mine action; and collection and destruction of small arms and other light weapons.

• For the past few years, support for peace-building efforts has become a new pillar of Japan’s international
cooperation. Responding to a wide range of peace processes underway in Africa, Japan extended in 2005
assistance of approximately US$60 million to 14 African countries.

• Japan has been strengthening its support for peacebuilding in Sudan following the conclusion of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005.

• In the realm of good governance, TICAD stakeholders support the NEPAD initiative of the African Peer Review
Mechanism (APRM) among African countries.

• The UN Trust Fund for Human Security was set up in 1999 to translate the concept of human security into
concrete activity worldwide. Japan, as the founding contributor, has given approximately US$200 million to the Trust Fund. Many projects supported by the Fund are in Africa. In cooperation with the Human Security Unit of the United Nations, the TICAD UNDP/Africa Bureau is developing a project to produce inter alia a comprehensive Africa Report on Human Security.

Human-Centered Development

• Food security for African countries has been given a boost through a remarkable example of Asian-African
collaboration. In the agricultural sector, NERICA, the “New Rice for Africa”, a crossbreed of Asian and African rice varieties that combines the resilience of West African rice and the high productivity traits of Asian rice, was widely disseminated under the TICAD Initiative. Japan has extended its support for scaling-up the NERICA
dissemination as well as support for agricultural research and policy development of other agricultural varieties
capitalizing on the success of the NERICA experiment. Developed in West Africa through collaboration between
the Japanese Government, UNDP, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the US Agency for International
Development (USAID), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Rockefeller
Foundation, NERICA is protein-rich, weed-competitive and pest and disease-resistant. It has a shorter growing cycle than traditional rice varieties (as few as 90 days compared with 140 days for other rice varieties). The initial experimental work at the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) has developed into a valued practical crop capable of increasing farmers' harvests by 50 per cent. From the seven pilot countries, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Togo, NERICA is being further disseminated to East African countries such as Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.

• Japan is actively involved in providing anti-malaria bed nets in Africa. The Government has decided to provide 10 million long-lasting insecticidal-treated nets by 2007 in response to “Quick Win Actions” featured in the Millennium Project Report. Support has also gone especially to maternal and child health programmes, family planning, information, education and communications as well as the empowerment of women and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

• Approximately three million people are being provided with safer water supply, and 2.6 million children are receiving educational opportunities such as school lunch programmes and newly-built schools.

• The Japanese Government developed an “African Village Initiative” based on the notion of “Human Security”.
It aims at supporting rural community development by combining infrastructure development and capacity building of people and other measures so that communities can stand on their own. Project models range from building a school in a rural community or building wells or water facilities on school campuses to distributing free school meals.

Poverty Reduction through economic growth

• Asia-Africa Trade and Investment Conference (AATIC), a major follow-up to TICAD III held in Tokyo in November 2004 reiterated the idea of “Poverty Reduction through Economic Growth” as well as “Asia-Africa Cooperation”. A major outcome of AATIC was the conclusion of a TICAD-NEPAD Joint Policy Framework for the Promotion of Trade and Investment between Africa and Asia, signed by the representatives of NEPAD and the Japanese Government and witnessed by other TICAD co-organizers, including UNDP.
Web site: http://www.ticad.net/aatic-2.shtml.

• Asia-Africa Investment & Technology Promotion Centre (AAITPC) - Also known as the Hippalos Centre, AAITPC was created in 1999 to help form and encourage business linkages between the two regions following TICAD II. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has been supporting AAITPC with financing from the Government of Japan to promote investment and technology transfers from Asia to Africa.
Web site: http://www.unido-aaitpc.org

• Africa-Asia Business Forum (AABF) Following TICAD II in 1998, a face-to-face business negotiation process between qualified selected Asian and African firms was organized under TICAD through three Africa- Asia Business Forums. Two major meetings were held between TICAD II and TICAD III -- one in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in October 1999, drawing together 110 African and Asian business people, and the other one in Durban, South Africa, in July 2001 where over 140 participants represented over 120 African and 60 Asian companies. AABF III was held in 2004 in Dakar, Senegal. The forums aimed at creating more favorable conditions for identifying partners in future joint ventures, and at attracting greater flows of foreign direct investment and trade between Asia and Africa. Altogether, the AABF process has led to business prospects being generated that total over US$100 million. The fourth AABF is scheduled to be held in 2007.

• AFRASIA Business Council (AABC) is a flagship initiative by UNDP to help African and Asian companies further their interests in trade and investment. It was launched in March 2005 in Mauritius in collaboration with the Government of Mauritius and leading African and Asian entrepreneurs. The AU was represented at the launch by its Commissioner for Trade and Industry, and Ghana, the host country of AABC, was represented by the Deputy Minister of Trade and ndustry. The Chairman of the NEPAD Business Group was also present. AABC consists of four main components, namely information management, public private partnership promotion, business ventures, and skills and knowledge development. It operates a Web portal, the AFRASIA Exchange, which provides a virtual marketplace for investment and technology opportunities. Web site: http://www.afrasia.org

• Africa-Asia SME Network (TECHNONET Africa) was established in June 2004 in South Africa. Its main function is to share Asia's experience in Small and Medium-size Enterprise (SME) development in partnership with TECHNONET Asia. Initial members of TECHNONET Africa are SME promotion institutions in both public and private sectors in seven African countries. During the first phase of the project (2004-2007), TECHNONET Africa will focus on the development of SMEs in such industrial areas as agro-based industry, food processing and metalworking.