By Edson Baraukwa | Africa Guardian
Kenya has expressed gratitude for Japan’s ongoing support in Africa’s infrastructure development and its partnership in advancing socio-economic activities across the continent.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi praised Japan’s sustained collaboration with Africa, particularly in crucial areas such as health, education, trade, investment, and climate change. He emphasized the importance of identifying areas with quick wins that require minimal resources but offer significant impact.
Mudavadi, who also serves as the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, highlighted the critical role of trade and investment in driving economic growth and alleviating poverty in Africa. He urged African nations to develop and implement strategies that would expand both regional and international trade chains.
Speaking at the Tokyo Investment Conference for Africa Development (TICAD-9) ministerial meeting, Mudavadi underscored the need to focus on expanding production, creating employment opportunities, and generating income. He noted that investing in the necessary skills, capacities, and a favorable legal and regulatory framework would enable effective private sector engagement and the utilization of technology, serving as a gateway to future economic stability.
Mudavadi also commended the effectiveness of the Africa-Japan cooperation and encouraged African countries to pursue further trade and investment collaboration with Japan. He pointed out that Africa and Japan have a great opportunity to explore mutual trade and investment opportunities as part of the evolving global order.
He highlighted that trade between Africa and Japan is fairly balanced, with Africa exporting goods worth an estimated USD 8.28 billion to Japan in 2023, while imports from Japan stood at USD 10.27 billion, leaving a deficit of USD 1.98 billion for Africa.
Mudavadi cited Kenya as one of the largest beneficiaries of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) and noted the gradual increase in private sector investments from Japanese companies in Kenya. With about 120 Japanese companies currently operating in Kenya, he emphasized Kenya’s position as a preferred destination for global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa. In 2022, Kenya attracted an estimated USD 759 million in FDI, accounting for 20 percent of the FDI flows to the East African Community (EAC).
He also highlighted the potential for collaboration between Japanese companies and Kenyan start-ups, which could serve as a catalyst for mutual growth and prosperity. Such collaboration could strengthen ties between the two nations through joint ventures, technology transfer, and shared business initiatives, potentially scaling up across Eastern Africa and the broader African continent.
Mudavadi called for a reassessment of one of TICAD’s aims: integrating African priorities into the international cooperation agendas of partners and donors. He stressed that African concerns and challenges should be a central part of the global agenda now and in the future.
He emphasized the need to focus on creating employment for Africa’s burgeoning youth population, agricultural development, trade, digital transformation, and other areas that would promote growth with equity, aligning with the United Nations’ call to “leave no one behind.”
Mudavadi proposed increased funding and technology integration in agriculture to make the sector more adaptive to climate change. He also highlighted the urgent need to address youth and women’s challenges from a South-South perspective.
He also pointed out the importance of re-evaluating the global financial architecture, calling for closer collaboration between Africa and Japan under the TICAD framework. Despite Africa accounting for 18 percent of the global population, the continent’s contribution to global trade remains under 3 percent.
Mudavadi stressed the importance of creating an enabling start-up ecosystem across Africa, with the aim of fostering a robust network of entrepreneurs capable of attracting more FDI, driving innovation, and addressing societal challenges. He called on the continent to strive toward a cohesive African start-up ecosystem characterized by seamless cross-border collaboration, enabling start-ups to scale their ideas from local to regional and global markets.
He noted that developing countries are increasingly embracing the private sector to promote sustainable development, and that innovation and technology, including artificial intelligence and robotics, can help countries harness the power of the digital economy for an efficient, inclusive, and sustainable future.
Finally, Mudavadi called for continued collaboration between Africa and Japan in strengthening the functions of the United Nations, including reforming the Security Council to address emerging issues in global governance. He suggested that Japan and the African Union (AU) could play a greater role in harmonizing various initiatives on multilateral system reforms, including aligning the AU’s Ezulwini Consensus on international relations with the G4 (Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan) approach to UN reforms.
___