What’s New: Over 20 top African leaders expected in Tokyo

17 September 2003: Over 20 African Heads of State will be arriving in Japan's capital city for the Third Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD III) which opens 29th September, reinforcing the conference's role as a vital forum for identifying the continent's future development priorities.

Among the presidents and prime ministers will be President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, who have all been initiating forces behind NEPAD, the New Partnership for Africa's Development, as well as the current chair person of the African Union, President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique. The African Union has adopted NEPAD as a mandated initiative, and it will be a central focus for TICAD III deliberations, especially as it emphasizes African ownership of the development process, conducted in partnership with the international community.

TICAD III marks a decade since the Government of Japan, in collaboration with the United Nations and the Global Coalition for Africa, first launched its effort to encourage international partnerships for Africa's development, and especially cooperation between Asia and Africa. The conference will review progress over the last ten years and is expected to proclaim a newly identified set of priorities.

Co-organizers of this third conference along with the Government of Japan are the Global Coalition for Africa, the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Africa, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank.

In addition to national leaders, TICAD III is drawing a broad range of participants from both the public and private sectors in Africa and Asia, donor countries, non-governmental organizations, academia and civil society. Some thirty-eight donor and Asian countries will be represented, as well as 15 African organizations, and 32 international organizations. Virtually all of Africa's 53 countries will be sending a delegation.

Previous TICAD meetings -- the opening conference in 1993 and a second gathering in 1998 -- fostered an ongoing process of international support for Africa. Initiatives born out of the TICAD process have ranged from agriculture to high-tech industries, including TICAD-based initiatives boosting the spread of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in African countries, backed by Asian expertise.

This year's run-up to TICAD III was marked by a series of wide-ranging consultations throughout Africa, beginning with a senior officials' meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in March. Critical input for the consultation process came from three Regional Workshops - held in Pretoria, South Africa, for the southern Africa region in May, in Nairobi, Kenya, for east and north Africa in early June, and in Yaounde, Cameroon, for west and central Africa in late June.

The regional workshops helped set the Tokyo conference's agenda, agreeing on priorities such as the need to consolidate peace throughout the continent and improve governance, at the same time as promoting agriculture -- which delegates spotlighted as an indispensable engine for Africa's economic growth.

Other priorities that the workshops endorsed for Tokyo included the full involvement of the private sector, building up national and regional infrastructures, strengthening human resources, mobilizing action against HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, and improving African people's access to water.