YOKOHAMA: More than 40 African heads of State met in Yokohama, Japan for the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) for three days starting Wednesday, hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. The summit-level event is reportedly this year's largest international conference on African development. The theme of TICAD IV is: "Towards a vibrant Africa: A continent of hope and opportunity. The conference comes at a time when Africa's average economic growth rate has reached six percent, peace-building and democratization are taking hold, and countries are tackling climate change and environmental concerns. The conference will focus on three priorities: boosting economic growth, ensuring human security, and addressing environmental issues and climate change. "The time has come for TICAD to make a significant leap forward, said Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura. "TICAD IV will hammer out a mechanism to help us keep focused on mid- and long-term issues five or ten years into the future. TICAD IV is scheduled to conclude with the adoption of the Yokohama Declaration, outlining guiding principles and approaches to African development among TICAD stakeholders, as well as the Yokohama Action Plan and the Yokohama Follow-up Mechanism, laying out a road map for action-oriented initiatives with measurable targets. The co-organizers are the Government of Japan, the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank. Also participating are high-level representatives from countries in Asia and other regions, as well as heads of international agencies and international non-governmental organizations. The main feature of the TICAD process is Asia-Africa cooperation. Japan has encouraged this South-South cooperation out of a conviction that Asia's development experiences can be useful for Africa. This has resulted in initiatives to facilitate trade and investment, as well as technical cooperation, between the two regions. The conference is scheduled to discuss ways to make Africa's robust economic growth self-sustaining and inclusive, so that the poor communities share benefits. Focus areas include expanding trade and investment, infrastructure development, and increasing agricultural productivity. It is also to discuss ways to strengthen "Human Security , a key concept of Japan's foreign policy, to "enable people to live in dignity, with freedom from fear and want, by protecting and empowering individuals and communities . This includes accelerating efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, and consolidation of peace and democratic governance. TICAD IV will explore ways to strengthen responses to climate change and other environmental issues. Climate change poses great risks to socio-economic development in Africa, with recurrent droughts parching farm fields and grazing lands, and flooding in other areas threatening communities. The results of TICAD IV are expected to be fed into the G-8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit scheduled to be held from July 7 to July 9, to bring African priorities to this meeting of world economic powers.
