Japan Pledges to Help Africa Double Rice Production

Japan promised African leaders Wednesday that it would step up aid and investment and use its expertise to help double rice production to ease the burden of soaring food prices.

A three-day summit in Yokohama, near Tokyo, is seen as a bid by Japan to expand its clout in Africa, where China has been rapidly sealing political alliances and business deals.

Fifty-two African nations are taking part in the summit, 40 of them represented by senior leaders -- including South African President Thabo Mbeki, who faced criticism for going abroad amid anti-immigrant violence at home.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda opened the conference by pledging to double aid by 2012 and offering four billion dollars in low-interest loans to develop infrastructure.

Amid spiralling food prices that have triggered unrest in some parts of the world, Fukuda also promised to devote Japanese technology to help Africa double rice production over the next 10 years from the current 14 million tonnes.

"If I were to liken the history of African development to a volume of literature, then what we are about to do now is to open a new page entitled 'the century of African growth,'" Fukuda said.

"In the future, Africa will become a powerful engine driving the growth of the world," he said.
World Bank president Rob Zoellick also gave an upbeat assessment of Africa's potential.

"I believe Africa can become a new pole of global growth, just as we have seen over the last 15 years China and India and others have become complementary poles of growth to the developed countries," Zoellick said.

The summit, called the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), comes little more than a month before Japan hosts the annual Group of Eight summit of the world's top industrial powers.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, current chairman of the African Union, expressed hope that TICAD would help ensure that the G8 summit fulfilled its commitments to Africa.

"Besides the increase in (aid), which is highly appreciated, TICAD needs to go further. What remains to be seen is increased trade and investment between Africa and Japan," he said.
Fukuda said Japan would send a delegation to Africa in the coming months to step up investment.

He also announced a 2.5 billion-dollar Africa fund for Japanese businesses, making their investments in the continent less risky.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said that despite rising growth, Africa "is still faced with a number of challenges."

"These include those occasioned by globalisation, rising food and fuel prices and failure to gain access to new markets and inadequate direct foreign investment," he said.

UNICEF chief Ann Veneman warned that the food crisis threatened to set back improvements in nutrition for the continent's children.

The food crisis has "increased the risk of malnutrition and has the potential of reversing important health gains," she said.

Rock star and activist Bono praised the pledges on infrastructure and investment, saying it showed Fukuda's "sharp understanding of Africa's drive towards self-sufficiency," although he also called for money to be earmarked for AIDS sufferers.

"It is possible, between now and the G8, to turn well-meaning rhetoric into well-funded actions. But if not, a cynical impression will be left," Bono said.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, holds the TICAD summits every five years. But it has looked with alarm as emerging economies, notably China, expand their reach in Africa.
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hina, which is hungry for African minerals and other resources, has held its own three-yearly African development conferences since 2000, while India held its first-ever summit with 14 African countries last month.

Beijing has been heavily criticised in the West for not linking its aid to democracy or human rights. It has also been a major backer of Sudan, which the United States accuses of genocide in its crackdown in Darfur.

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir used his opening address to demand international pressure on Chad, renewing charges that the neighbouring country backed a rebel incursion on Khartoum this month.

by Kyoko Hasegawa from AFP