Japan has pledged $30 billion in funding for African development with the intent of engaging more closely with the continent as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens the rules-based international.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a Japan-Africa meeting in Tunisia on Sunday that Tokyo would endeavor to maintain grain shipments to Africa in the face of a global scarcity.
Kishida said the $30 billion would be delivered over three years, promising smaller sums for food security in coordination with the African Development Bank.
According to Tunisia’s national news agency, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi stated that Japan would provide Tunisia $100 million to help reduce the effects of the pandemic.
Tunisia requires financial assistance as it faces a potential public-finance catastrophe exacerbated by the global commodity price constraint. Due to a fuel scarcity, huge lines have formed at gas stations this week, and stores have begun limiting some commodities.
Mr Kishida, promised to pressure for an African seat at the UN Security Council.
The Japanese prime-minister also announced that Japan would appoint a special envoy to the Horn of Africa, where a long drought has prompted the UN’s weather agency to warn this week of an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.
Kishida said Japan would also pump $8.3 million into the troubled but gold-rich Liptako-Gourma tri-borders area between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso that has been ravaged by extremist attacks in recent years.
The UN Security Council is made up of 15 members, five of whom are permanent and have veto-wielding power: The United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain.
