EDITORIAL: Japan should further Africa’s development as an equal partner

Kenya, a major East African country, is a cashless society. Kenyans without a bank account can make money transfers and payments by using their smartphones. Electronic money transactions account for half of Kenya's gross domestic product.

The digital payment system has been developed to allow migrant workers in cities to send small amounts of money to their families back in rural hometowns.

Similar systems for cashless financial transactions have spread like wildfire in neighboring countries as well.

New technologies that have been developed and improved over many years in industrial nations, from drone transportation to management of agricultural produce with mobile applications, come into wide use very quickly in Africa. A dazzling spectacle of technological progress and innovation is unfolding in the continent.

An international conference to discuss the current state and the future of Africa will be held in Yokohama. The Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD7, starts on Aug. 28.

The three-day conference, which brings together leaders from more than 50 African countries and international organizations, offers a great opportunity for Japan and Africa to deepen mutual understanding.

It is vital for Japan to support Africa’s development as an equal partner, instead of as a provider of aid to a less-developed region.

When the TICAD was launched a quarter-century ago, the main challenge for Japan was to work out an effective formula for economic assistance to Africa based on its own experiences.

As Africa’s economy gained a solid footing after the turn of the century, the focus of Japan’s cooperation with the continent has shifted to trade and investment.

But Japan’s trade with Africa has been mired in stagnation since peaking in 2008.

Africa has a combined population of 1.3 billion, roughly equal to that of China or India. The number of people living in the continent is projected to double in the next three decades to account for a quarter of the global population.

In May, a free trade agreement came into force, reducing tariffs and other barriers to trade among African nations. The pact has raised expectations for the creation of a huge unified market in the future.

But the continent’s economic outlook is fraught with risks and uncertainties. Since most countries are heavily dependent on oil and other natural resources for economic growth, their economic performances have weakened in recent years due to lower commodity prices.

Another major problem, dictatorships and autocratic rule in many parts of the region, has remained unsolved.

This has prevented much of the benefits of economic growth from reaching lower rungs of society and led to wider economic inequity and political instability in many countries.

To attract foreign investment, African countries need to embrace more transparent and democratic governing systems. Here lies the biggest obstacle to growth in Japanese business investment in the continent. The Japanese government should clearly convey this view to African leaders.

In terms of trade and investment, China has built a dominant presence in the region. Since 2000, China has been holding the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation every three years in an apparent effort to rival Japan’s TICAD initiative.

But it would do no good for Tokyo to try to compete with Beijing in expansion of influence in Africa.

There is growing wariness among African countries about borrowing huge amounts of money from China.

The picture of development in the continent is still widely mixed. Many challenges for efforts to raise the living standards and the quality of life among people, from eliminating poverty to improving public health and education systems, have yet to be effectively tackled.

Africa is also facing serious consequences of climate change, including desertification.

Even if there is a growing trend away from aid toward investment, it should not be forgotten that Africa still needs assitance to deal with the challenges it is facing.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 26