What’s on the TICAD9 Agenda at Yokohama in 2025?
The 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development 2025 (#TICAD2025) is taking place in Yokohama from 20 to 22 August 2025. The theme of this edition is “Co-create innovative solutions with Africa.” The previous 8th edition took place in Tunisia in 2022, with the triennial Conference alternating between Japan and Africa.
At TICAD8 in 2022, Japan pledged USD 30 billion over next three years to support African development. Thus, one would expect one of the items on the agenda would be to take stock of how the financing brought about shared benefits. In between TICAD Summits, it must be said that ministerial meetings are held to follow up on the implementation.
Japan wishes to distinguish itself from other development partners of Africa by mobilizing funding from both public and private sources. In addition, the Conference engages a wide cross-section of stakeholders from international organizations, governments, businesses, academia, NGO and even third-party countries outside Africa.
As a technological powerhouse, Japan is also supporting African startups to come up with innovative solutions, hence the theme of the upcoming 9th edition. In that respect, Japan plans to train 30,000 young Africans in the field of #AI in the coming three years. Other traditional sectors of focus include health, energy, and agriculture. Since 2008, Japan has built 1,321 schools, upgraded 4,778 healthcare facilities, and provided safe water to 10.79 million people in Africa.
On 15 August 2025, Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba issued a communique highlighting the three cross-cutting themes for this edition as follows:
- Driving sustainable economic growth through private sector leadership
- Empowering youth and women
- Strengthening regional integration and connectivity
NHK reports that some 300 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) are expected to be signed by Japan and African countries during TICAD9. In preparation for #TICAD2025, Japan Foreign Affairs Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his Burundi counterpart Edouard Bizimana co-chaired a ministerial meeting. Both sides commended that the theme and focus of TICAD9 are in line with both the AU #Agenda2063 and the #UN #SDG.
Deputy Chair of AUC Selmal Haddadi, UN Under-Secretary-General Cristina Duarte, UNDP Assistant-Secretary-General Ahunna Eziakonwa, MIGA EVP Hiroshi Matano also attended the preparatory meeting.
Other Japanese agencies, such as JICA, NEXI and JBIC, are focusing their efforts to align with the AfDB #High5 development goals. In that regard, an envelope of one and half billion US dollars has been allocated to the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa (EPSA5), a joint initiative with AfDB.
One of the flagship projects set to be announced at #TICAD2025 is Japan’s support in the development of the logistics network along the Nacala Corridor. It is one of the key #EconomicCorridors in Southern Africa linking landlocked countries such as Malawi, Zambia to the Mozambican seaport of Nacala on the Indian Ocean.
In a bid to boost exchanges, JICA plans to pair Japanese cities with African countries. In the pilot first batch, Nagai in Yamagata Prefecture will interact with Tanzania, Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture with Nigeria, Sanjo in Niigata Prefecture with Ghana, and Imabari in Ehime Prefecture with Mozambique.
As part of the innovative solutions, Cote d’Ivoire became the first sub-Saharan country to raise capital on the Japan Stock Exchange via the issuance of the Samurai Bonds, backed by JBIC, for an amount of JPY 50 billion (€300M).
Japan’s #FOIP strategy is yet to gain traction with African countries as it is perceived more as a geopolitical construct rather than an economic or development program. However, Japan is actively engaging with African countries in the fields of #MaritimeSecurity, Fishing and Shipping under the FOIP umbrella. Last but not least, PM Ishiba is expected to propose a new initiative for economic integration and development from the #IndianOcean to Africa at #TICAD2025.