Japan Vows to Double African Aid
May 28th, 2008 at 12:54 pm | posted by Virginia SimmonsIn an opening speech at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Japan would double its foreign aid and business investments to the African continent.
“As part of Japan’s pledge to double investment in Africa, Fukuda announced a $2.5 billion scheme that will directly finance businesses in Africa and guarantee the financing provided by Japanese banks for businesses there.
Fukuda also stressed the need for a network of roads in Africa, vowing to give up to $4 billion of yen loans to the continent over the next five years to improve its infrastructure.”
Read the full Reuters’ piece here.
-Virginia Simmons
May 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Thanks Virginia for these article update but I don’t know if it tells the whole truth behind the numbers being thrown around at TICAD.
I checked the DATA website but no update there yet regarding the progress (or lack of) being made at TICAD but here is an excerpt from an article that I found at Yahoo this morning about what Bono is supposed to have said regarding the Japanese offer so far. (It’s from a website called Earthtimes.org)
“Tokyo - Irish band U2 vocalist Bono urged Japan to increase not only bilateral but also multilateral aid to African nations, Bono’s advocacy group Data said Wednesday. Bilateral official development aid (ODA) accounts for about half of Japan’s aid to Africa, while the rest of foreign aid goes through institutions such as the World Bank, the Global Fund, African Development Bank and the UN.
“It is misleading to announce a doubling of ODA, and dash the hopes of AIDS sufferers who discover they are not included in such doubling of aid,” Bono said.
The musician also stressed the urgent need for the Group of Eight, to take concrete steps to address the food crisis through investment in African agriculture. Japan will host the next G8 meeting in Toyako in July…..”
So I don’t know what to think about the Japanese offer so far. It looks like it’s not all that it’s made out to be.
Maybe we can get an update soon about TICAD from DATA at the Conference.
ONE HEART, ONE HOPE, ONE VOICE, ONE LOVE - debbie
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