Addis Ababa, 01 September, 2015 (WIC)-The second Africa –Japan business and investment forum, which brought together more than 300 policy actors, has kicked off.
In his opening speech to the forum, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, said Africa is a continent whose time has come and it has an abundant natural resource base, better peace and security atmosphere, strengthened political governance and a burgeoning population with an emerging middle class.
Ethiopia offers a stable macro-economy, a committed political leadership, a coherent economic policy, easily trainable workforce and an abundant natural resource, he noted.
Hailemariam stressed that Ethiopia is one of the fastest growing economies in the world driven not by natural resources like oil, rather by its commodities.
Nobuyuki Tanka, Managing Director of Nikkei Business Publications Inc, on his part said Japanese are giving a lot of attention to Africa for two reasons; a growing population and an immense natural resource endowment which lay the foundation for a long term economic and political engagement.
Ethiopia and Japan have long standing historical ties and Abebe Bikila is not only a hero of Ethiopia, he is also a here of Japan, Tanaka remarked.
At the beginning of 2014, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited three African countries namely Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivire and Mozambique. It is believed that the visit has motivated more Japanese companies to look for possible opportunities in Africa.
Ethiopia and Japan co- hosted a side event at the third UN Finance for Development Conference that took place here this year.
The forum is expected to activate business to business interactions thereby enhancing mutual understanding and strengthening relation between the continent and Japan.
The two-day forum is co hosted by the Government of Ethiopia, Nikkei Business Publications, a group of company of Nikkei Inc, and IC Publications at Sheraton Addis. Nikkei Inc is a leading financial and business media group in Japan.
The forum, which brought together more than 300 key actors in policy circles of governments and the private business, is held for the first time in Africa.
It is aimed at strengthening ties between African and Japanese businesses, and share best practices and opportunities the continent and the Far East country might exchange each other. It is expected to highlight new opportunities for trade and investment in sectors like finance, agriculture, energy, manufacturing, healthcare and technology.
Japan is a strategic partner to Africa since the establishment of the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in 1993. Since then, the nature of African- Japan relation has undergone significant changes with trade between the two standing at USD 25 billion at present.
According to the African Report magazine, Japanese investors accounted for USD 3.5 billon of the project funds Asian nations poured in to African countries notably for infrastructure, hydrocarbon, water and sanitation development in 2014.
Ethiopia and Japan have diplomatic relations since 1930.