Ghana to benefit from $32b Japanese package for Africa

Ghana's infrastructural development plans are set to benefit from a five-year $32 billion package from the government of Japan.

The package is in line with the objective of TICAD, which is to among others contribute to the promotion of development on the continent and enabling African countries to determine what projects to focus.

The announcement of the package was made by Japanese Prime Minister Shinz? Abe on Saturday when he opened the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).

The package is expected to help African countries with their infrastructure development and boost economic growth.

Forty-one African heads of state including President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, are attending TICAD.

The three-day conference, which also marks the 20th anniversary of the TICAD process, is on the theme 'hand in hand with the more dynamic Africa'. The conference is reviewing Africa's cooperation with Japan in the last two decades along four thematic areas of a robust economy, resilient society, developing public/private sector partnership and peace and stability in Africa.

Prime Minister Abe told the audience that Japan will also continue with its assistance programmes in health, education and other sectors. He noted that his country’s nutrition assistance to Ghana, which started the construction of small maternity centres, is helping midwives respond in a timely manner to mothers during childbirth.

"We also started classes for expecting mothers. This is an awareness creating activity in which we bring pregnant women together to teach them and let them know the various things they should be aware of as expectant mothers” Mr. Abe stated.

The Japanese Prime Minister was also full of praise for Ghana's ‘koko plus’, a supplement that helps to increase the weight of babies. According to him, the success of the supplement "… captured the attention of a company, Ajinomoto, one of Japan’s major food-related corporations.”

On education, Mr. Abe said Japan would in the next five years provide scholarships to one thousand undergraduate and graduate students from Africa to study in Japan. The students will also be provided with opportunities to work as interns in Japanese companies.

The Prime Minister used the occasion to launch Japan’s “Africa Business Education Initiative (ABE) for the youth in Africa."

"Together with the ABE Initiative, over the next five years, we will set about cultivating 'business and industry savvy human capacities' that will lead to employment for thirty thousand individuals, making use of the human resources development already being implemented by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA)," he said.

Attending TICAD V with President Mahama are the Minister for Finance Seth Terkper, Minister for Trade and Industry Haruna Iddrisu, Minister for Foreign Affairs Hanna Tetteh and the Minister for Energy & Petroleum Emmanuel Kofi Buah.