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Add to Preferred SourcesThe Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) closed in Yokohama, Japan. The conference, co-organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Government of Japan, the African Union Commission (AUC), the World Bank, and the United Nations, took place under the theme of “Advancing Africa’s development through people, technology and innovation.”
The private sector plays a critical role in the development of Africa and in realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner.
“We need business, society and government – all hands-on deck to make the social and economic transformation required for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. UNDP is committed to support countries in mobilizing the huge potential of the private sector to invest in SDGs-enabling activities, especially in Africa, which is at the heart of our development work.”
During TICAD7, Steiner engaged in various dialogues with African and Japanese thought leaders of the public and private sectors, international organizations, and civil society. He emphasized the importance of economic transformation through innovation and business, sustainable and resilient society, and peace and stability, in line with the conference theme.
TICAD7 focused on business-based innovative solutions for inclusive and sustainable economic and social transformation in Africa. Despite progress made on the SDGs, there is a huge funding gap, as it is estimated that Africa needs between 600 billion and 1.2 trillion US dollars per year to implement the SDGs.
In the Yokohama Plan of Actions 2019 endorsed at the end of the three-day discussions, UNDP committed to further reinforce human capital development, especially for youth and women, as well as provide support to entrepreneurs to realize economic and social transformation. Steiner stressed the need to harness digital technologies to allow for better access to information and finance so that even those furthest behind can benefit from technological innovations for shared prosperity.
“The private sector is a critical development partner. The problem is not lack of money, but rather about connecting it with innovative ideas on the ground. It will require mobilization of public and private expertise, network and all other resources to bring synergy,“ Steiner said.
With the aim of enhancing win-win partnerships between the Japanese and African private sectors and generating business-based solutions for the SDGs, UNDP launched two partnership frameworks for cooperation with Japanese actors during TICAD7. These are: a tripartite partnership with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) focusing on small- and medium-sized enterprises, and a bilateral partnership with Japan Association of Corporate Executives to advocate for engagement of the Japanese business community in Africa.
The signing ceremony of the UNDP-JICA-JETRO partnership was attended by JICA President, Dr. Shinichi Kitaoka and JETRO Chairman, Mr. Nobuhiko Sasaki. The UNDP Regional Director for Africa, Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa signed the two agreements on behalf of UNDP.
Original source: UNDP
Published on 30 August 2019