The Africa-Japan Business and Investment Forum that will be held for the next three days kicks off at the Sharaton Hotel, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, yesterday (August 31st, 2015). The Forum was attended by Senior Government officials from Ethiopia, Japan and all over Africa, including Ethiopia's Prime Minister, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn and H.E Kazuyuki Nakane, Parliamentarian Vice Foreign Minister of Japan; more than 100 companies of Japan, Development cooperation partners and invited guests.
The opening session of the Forum started following a keynote speech by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Parliamentarian Vice Foreign Minister Kazuyuki Nakane. In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Hailemariam praised the existing cordial relations between Africa and Japan. Prime Minister Hailemariam hailed Japan's interest and demonstration to be part of the African growth narrative. He also commended the wide range of ongoing development cooperation between Japan and Africa, adding that Africa and Ethiopia offer ample business and investment potentials.
The Prime Minister reaffirmed the commitment for further strengthened and widened partnerships between Africa and Japan in the years and decades to come. Speaking about Japan's commitment to be part of the development in emerging Africa, Prime Minister Hailemariam quoted H.E. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent remark saying "a great number of Japanese have acquired an inclination to conjure up images of Africa in bright colors through the entire Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) process". Prime Minister Hailemariam also noted the exchange of visits between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and African leaders "have certainly strengthened the already excellent relations between Africa and Japan".
The Prime minister also praised Japan's announcement to support the private sector development, human resource development and infrastructure development of Africa under the TICAD framework and, partnerships including the ABE initiative, Kaizen philosophy and the industrial policy dialogue among others. H.E. Kazuyuki Nakane, Parliamentarian Vice Foreign Minister of Japan, on his part, praised partners in organizing the Forum and noted that "this Africa-Japan Business and Investment Forum" will be a big opportunity to strengthen Japan- Africa ties in many ways.
Kazuyuki Nakane reiterated Prime Minister Shizo Abe's visit to Africa including Ethiopia which he said has further brought the ties closer. The Vice Foreign Minister also commended Ethiopia for hosting the FFD3 quite successfully, adding that Japan has conducted a forum at the margins of the FFD3 which has now drawn partners in business and investment. This Forum he said will be a chance for further interaction and a strong platform for enhancement of Japan-Africa relations in many aspects, including in the business and investment frontier.
Source: AllAfrica
No comments:
Post a Comment