By Xinhua,
Yokohama, Japan : Dozens of African leaders and representatives of development partners have gathered here to strike out strategies and future action plans for a speedy and sustained growth of the African continent at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) which will start Wednesday.
The three-day meeting is co-organized by the Government of Japan, the United Nations Office of the Special Advisor on Africa, the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank.
Hundreds of delegates, including some 40 leaders from African countries and representatives of international organizations are attending the meeting at Yokohama, the third largest city in Japan.
Under the theme “Toward a Vibrant Africa: A Continent of Hope and Opportunity”, the meeting is to focus on boosting economic growth, ensuring human security and addressing environment and climate change issues in Africa.
On supporting Africa in boosting economic growth, the meeting is to discuss how to make the currently strong economic growth in Africa self-sustained, more pro-poor and inclusive.
To ensure human security, the meeting is expected to put strength on the assistance to help African nations achieve the MDGs and consolidate peace and good governance.
And in dealing with the environment and climate change issues, it will talk about cooperative efforts to improve the environment so as to remove bottlenecks to the economic growth in the region.
Asia-Africa cooperation, intra-Africa cooperation and public-private partnership are important for the development of the nations. The meeting will serve as a platform for broadening the development partnership.
Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura said prior to the meeting that the conference was expected to adopt the “Yokohama Declaration” outlining guiding principles and approaches to African development among the 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 results from the meeting are expected to be fed into the G-8 summit to be held in Japan’s Hokkaido on July 7-9.
Some 1,300 journalists, including 1,000 from local media and 300 from foreign ones, have registered to cover the TICAD IV, while more than 700 people are serving as work staff for the event, Tomohiko Taniguchi, Deputy Press Secretary of Japanese Foreign Ministry told Xinhua Tuesday.
Tight security can be seen around the venue and police from Kanagawa prefecture also joined the municipal police in security service.