Africa to Develop and Implement Strategies to expand Regional and International Trade
Kenya has thanked Japan for its support towards African infrastructure development and cooperation in improving socioeconomic activities across the continent. Dr. Musalia Mudavadi, Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, emphasized Japan's close collaboration with Africa in a speech delivered at the August, 2024 Tokyo Investment Conference for Africa Development (TICAD-9) ministerial meeting.
Dr. Mudavadi, who also serves as Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, emphasized the importance of trade and investment in generating economic growth and reducing poverty in Africa. He urged African governments to establish and implement measures to strengthen regional and international trade networks. The Prime Cabinet Secretary emphasized the necessity of investing in skill development as well as creating a conducive legislative and regulatory environment to enable effective private sector engagement and technological advancement.
The Prime Cabinet Secretary acknowledged the achievement of the Africa-Japan alliance and pushed African countries to expand trade and investment cooperation with Japan mentioning that Africa and Japan had a huge opportunity to expand their mutual trade and investment. He noted that trade between Africa and Japan was reasonably balanced. In 2023, Africa's exports to Japan were worth USD 8.28 billion, while imports from Japan were worth USD 10.27 billion, resulting in a USD 1.98 billion imbalance.
Dr. Mudavadi identified Kenya as a key recipient of Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) and emphasized the growing presence of Japanese companies in Kenya, with roughly 120 already operating there. It was noted that Kenya has emerged as a popular location for global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), with an estimated USD 759 million in FDI in 2022, accounting for 20% of the East African Community's total FDI. The meeting was further informed that collaboration between Japanese companies and Kenyan start-ups acted as a powerful catalyst for mutual growth, strengthening ties through joint ventures, technology transfer, and business initiatives that had the potential to extend to Eastern Africa and beyond.
The Prime Cabinet Secretary further urged for a rethinking of TICAD's goals, notably the inclusion of African concerns in international cooperation agendas. He called for the incorporation of African concerns into the global agenda, with a focus on job creation, agricultural development, commerce, digital transformation, and other critical sectors for equitable progress. He further advocated for additional finance and technological integration in agriculture to improve climate resilience, emphasizing the necessity of tackling youth and women's issues from a South-South perspective.
Dr. Mudavadi urged for a rethinking of the global financial architecture to stimulate tighter collaboration between Africa and Japan within the TICAD framework. He pointed out that, despite accounting for 18% of the global population, Africa's contribution to global trade was significantly less than 3%. He urged the African countries to create a cohesive start-up environment that would allow entrepreneurs to take their ideas from the local to regional and global levels.
Kenya commended the private sector's contribution to sustainable development and emphasized the power of innovation and technology, like as artificial intelligence and robotics, to build a more sustainable and inclusive future. Continuous partnership between Africa and Japan to strengthen the United Nations and its functions, particularly Security Council reform was encouraged with calls for Japan and the African Union to play a critical role in harmonizing international reform attempts.