At the opening session of the seventh edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7), held in Yokohama, Japan, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on African countries and Japan to increase bilateral cooperation to benefit from Africa's natural resources. Diversifying energy sources and supporting renewable and clean energy projects contributed to controlling the effects of climate change, Sisi said at the conference on Wednesday. He added that supporting Africa with development pogrammes and state-of-the-art technologies to benefit from the continent's human and natural resource was essential to achieve the Africa 2063 development agenda goals and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The Egyptian president also called on global private-sector institutions, international companies and financial institutions to invest in Africa. Sisi stated that the development of African infrastructure, activating the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, and creating more job opportunities in the continent were the three pillars to accelerate the transformation of Africa into an active strategic partner. As the current chairman of the African Union, the Egyptian president said he was hopeful the TICAD 7 would achieve tangible results in furthering partnership between Japan and Africa. The TICAD conference aims at launching a new phase of strategic partnership between Japan and African countries based on mutual understanding, in addition to increasing Japan's contributions to Africa's development. Sisi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are co-chairing the summit meetings that run through 30 August. Sisi met with the president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on Wednesday in his residence in Yokohama, said Presidential Spokesman Ambassador Bassam Radi. Sisi praised the agency's developmental efforts in Egypt while the JICA chief explained the activities of the agency in different development projects in Egypt. Egypt's president received the invitation to attend TICAD 7 from Japan's prime minister in October 2018. Source: Ahram Online
