From globalpost

Japan told foreign ministers and senior officials from about 50 African countries on Sunday that it will steadily implement 3.2 trillion yen, or $32 billion, in aid for Africa over a five-year period through 2017.

With the government and private sectors acting in concert, Japan “will steadily implement assistance it pledged” last year, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in a speech at the start of a two-day meeting in Cameroon of a Japan-led initiative to promote development in Africa.

Under the program, Japan has already assisted African countries by providing patrol ships to Djibouti, with the building and maintenance of roads in western Africa, and with exchanges of businesswomen between Japan and Africa.

Kishida also said Japan will lend a further $300 million to the African Development Bank to use to nurture the private sector in African countries.

“Japan sees Africa, a region with high economic growth, as a frontier of its diplomacy,” he said. “Japan aims to strengthen reciprocal economic relations with Africa through an expansion of trade and investment.”

At the fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama in June last year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled the 3.2 trillion yen aid package for Africa. In January, Abe visited Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Ethiopia, and vowed Japan’s continued support for development of Africa.

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