TICAD III wraps up with a call for global partnership for Africa's development

1 October 2003: The third Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD III) concluded with a call for the international community to support Africa's development in a spirit of global partnership. The TICAD Tenth Anniversary Declaration was adopted at the conference, one of the biggest ever held on Africa with delegates attending from 89 countries, 50 of them African, as well as from 47 regional and international organizations and civil society groups.

The Declaration commemorated a decade since the TICAD process began in 1993 and affirmed, as a continuing principle for the future, the ideal of partnership based on mutual trust and respect between Africa and the rest of the international community.

The conference Chairperson, Japan’s former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori concluded that the three-day event “successfully demonstrated the united support of the international community for Africa – the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in particular – and the expansion of partnerships such as Asia-Africa cooperation.”

Co-organizers of the conference along with the Japanese Government were UNDP, the Office of the UN Special Adviser on Africa, the Global Coalition for Africa, and the World Bank. UNDP’s Administrator Mark Malloch Brown moderated a plenary session devoted to the expansion of partnership, in both Asia-Africa and intra-African dimensions. “The Asian miracle of economic recovery can mean many things to different observers, said the Administrator, “but there is clearly much that African can borrow from the Asian experience – not least the importance of giving investment in education a very high priority.”

Among the Asian counties participating in the discussion, the Republic of Korea’s representative, Suk-Hyun Kim, welcomed NEPAD as providing new momentum for Africa’s development, and emphasized that his own country’s significant economic progress had not come only from foreign aid. “Our success is largely attributed to the fact that the Korean Government had initiated a comprehensive economic plan, emphasizing the establishment of infrastructure, increase in agricultural productivity and nurturing of private companies”.

As part of the continuing TICAD process, a major Africa-Asia Trade and Investment conference is planned for the autumn of 2004. Existing concrete examples of Asia-Africa collaboration, like NERICA (the New Rice for Africa) and the TICAD-supported expansion of information and communications technology throughout many parts of Africa, were cited as providing important foundations for increased collaboration in the future .

Gabon’s President El Hadj Omar Bongo, one of the longest-engaged African leaders in the TICAD process, summed up the conference by noting that the gathering took place at “a sensitive time for the continent, when all the statistics indicate a dark future for Africa”. He welcomed in particular the support that TICAD expressed for NEPAD, and moved delegates to applause with his rousing call: “Long live TICAD! Long live international co-operation!

The TICAD process would certainly live on, the conference Chairperson assured delegates. Mr Mori said, “The conference recognized the importance of continuing the TICAD process and the co-organizers committed themselves to continuing the process in a more institutionalized manner, regularly following up outcomes of the conference.”

Dr. Frene Ginwala, President of South Africa’s National Assembly, speaking in her role as co-chair of the Global Coalition for Africa, noted that concerns expressed by many Africans had been fully accomodated in the Tenth Anniversary Declaration. She emphasized that the TICAD process will henceforth broaden its orientation and objectives to encompass human security. Highlighting the Declaration’s visionary commitment, Dr. Ginwala said , “We the representatives of Africa and its development partners are now to take a step forward to fill the hearts of children in Africa with hope not despair, and their lives with peace not instability. We firmly believe that such a step, taken with great confidence and shared conviction, will truly take Africa forward to a bright and hopeful future.”