Africa’s development proposals made

The first TICAD V Ministerial Meeting ended on May 5, 2014 in Yaounde with pertinent proposals on boosting development in Africa.

The first Ministerial Meeting of the fifth International Conference on African Development, TICAD V that held in Yaounde from May 3 to 5, 2014 is now history but what remains is the translation into concrete reality of the commitments taken to strengthen Africa- Japan cooperation aimed at boosting African Development. Cameroon’s Minister of External Relations, Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Fumio Kishida co-chaired the closing ceremony and also granted a joint press conference.

The meeting registered 550 delegates representing 47 African countries and co-organisers, namely Japan, the African Union, World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Office for the Special Adviser on Africa, Development partners, International Organisations, African Regional Organisations and Non-governmental Organisations. The meeting will forever be remembered as a forum during which the implementation of the Yokohama Action Plan 2013-2017 was examined and proposals on the way forward given.

The implementation matrix and guidelines for annual progress report in implementing the Action Plan that sanctioned the TICAD V held in Yokohama on June 13, 2013 were also endorsed. The action plan designed to foster Africa’s development concern areas such as boosting economic growth, accelerating infrastructure and capacity development, empowering farmers as mainstream economic actors, promoting sustainable and resilient growth, creating inclusive society for growth and consolidating peace, stability, democracy and good governance.

Talking during the press conference, the Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister, Fumio Kishida said Japan will continue to promote cooperation with Africa dealing with the global agenda, Africa’s ownership of initiatives and international partnership. As to key areas discussed during the meeting, he cited agriculture, food security and nutrition, the Post-2015 Development Agenda and empowerment of women and youth, stating that the issues are important for the development of Africa.

He said they also discussed security issues in Africa and revealed that his country will provide 25 million US Dollars in assistance to stability in South Sudan. The Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister also announced the contribution of 10 million US Dollars to ensure stability in the Central Africa sub-region with focus on the conflict in the Central African Republic. He said the bond between Japan and African countries has been consolidated in the Yaounde meeting and reaffirmed Japan’s commitment to honour its financial obligations.

Minister Moukoko Mbonjo said the TICAD V ministerial meeting was highly beneficial to Cameroon hoping that Japanese investments will increase in the country in areas of agriculture, energy, infrastructure, peace and security in the nieghbouring Central African Republic and the Gulf of Guinea.

By Emmanuel Kendemeh