Overview

• The three-day TICAD9 conference in Yokohama, co-hosted with the UN, UNDP, the World Bank and the African Union Commission, runs through August 22 with a Yokohama declaration expected at the close.
• Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba proposed an economic zone linking the Indian Ocean region to Africa to boost trade and investment, including drawing capital from Japanese firms operating in India and the Middle East.
• Japan pledged loans of up to $5.5 billion coordinated with the African Development Bank to support sustainable development and help address debt pressures, with an extension of the AfDB–Japan EPSA partnership (EPSA6) expected during the conference.
• Tokyo said it will support training 30,000 artificial intelligence experts over the next three years to accelerate digitalization and job creation across African economies.
• Attendees include Presidents Bola Tinubu, Cyril Ramaphosa and William Ruto alongside UN chief António Guterres, who urged a stronger African voice in global decision-making as Ramaphosa’s office cited a worsening debt and liquidity crisis.