What TICAD needs to do to further Africa’s development goals

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-V) in Yokohama, Japan June 2013. (Photo: Courtesy/UN)

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe will jointly welcome delegates to the sixth edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) which will be held on August 27-28, 2016 in Nairobi. Kenya will be the first African country to host the forum which is dedicated to finding sustainable solutions to Africa’s development aspirations.

Conceived by Japan in 1993 as a way of mobilising resources to give impetus to an Africa-led development construct, TICAD has made several strides in its set objectives. In reaction to its apparent success, and to the benefit of Africa, a number of leading economies including China and India have come up with similar initiatives.