Tokyo International Conference on African Development

Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) (アフリカ開発会議, Afurika Kaihatsukaigi^?) is a conference held regularly with the objective "to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners." Japan is a co-host of these conferences. Other co-organizers of TICAD are the United Nations Office of the Special Advisor on Africa (UN-OSSA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The series has included: TICAD I (1993); TICAD II (1998); TICAD III (2003); TICAD IV (2008); TICAD V (2013). The next conference is scheduled for Kenya in August 2016. It will be the first time the event will be held in Africa, previous conferences were all held in Japan.

TICAD has been an evolving element in Japan's long-term commitment to fostering peace and stability in Africa through collaborative partnerships. In this context, Japan has stressed the importance of "Africa's ownership" of its development as well as of the "partnership" between Africa and the international community. The exchange of views amongst the conference delegates serves to underscore the case for more, not less assistance from the major world economies.

The TICAD conferences were intended to help to promote high-level policy dialogue amongst African leaders and their development partners. It emerged in 1993 after the end of the Cold War in an era of 'aid fatigue' among donor countries, and was critical in regenerating strong donor interest in Africa. TICAD has evolved into a major global forum to promote development on the continent under the principles of African "ownership" and international "partnership." These concepts became essential factors in the launch of the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a strategy for development designed by Africans themselves. Earlier TICAD meetings have also resulted in key outcomes, in particular when Japan is hosting the G8, as it is in 2008. In 2000, for example, Japan hosted the Okinawa G8 Summit and invited leaders from several African countries to attend. Ideas proposed at TICAD II were also taken up by the G8 in the creation of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

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