Author: Njenga Hakeenah

Japan has pledged to prioritize quality over quantity in its aid to Africa. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged to maintain and expand Abe’s interest in Africa.

Tokyo has always financed a variety of projects in different sectors. A decade ago, Japan financed a new container terminal in Mozambique’s port of Nacala and Kenya’s main port, Mombasa. Now, renewables are favoured to promote development and maximize Japanese expertise.

Tokyo financed the April completion of Unit 6 at Kenya’s Olkaria geothermal site. It provided a US$746 million low-interest loan to finance the new project and the transmission lines needed to connect the plant to the rest of the country. Fuji Electric Global and Marubeni Corporation did the work. Japanese firms supply more geothermal turbines than the rest of the world combined, and JICA finances geothermal projects worldwide.…

Senegal’s President Macky Sall claimed Japanese firms have the technical and financial capacity to establish up partnerships in Africa while Moussa Faki Mahamat, who is the African Union Commission chair praised Japan’s education and training achievements. He lauded a Japanese effort that taught nutrition to 1,000 young Africans.

African countries would need major financial resources to deal with Covid-19, climate change, and Russia’s war in Ukraine said the African Development Bank chief.

“Now is the time to assist the African Adaptation Acceleration Program to mobilize $25 billion for climate adaptation in Africa,” Adesina added.

AfDB’s African Emergency Food Production Facility, started in May 2022, is providing US$1.13 billion to 24 nations for emergency food production. The Bank approved the facility early in 2022 to prevent the Ukraine war’s food and fertilizer disaster.…

For example, it was discovered that at least five African start-ups that were pitched at the combined events had received investments from Japanese venture capitalists.

When it comes to assisting African nations in accelerating their work toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, Japan’s leadership and development experience, as well as its business know-how, innovations, and technologies, all have an important part to play.

There has never been a time when the need to find new ways to align and leverage the private capital of the world towards increased sustainability was more pressing than it is now in the wake of escalating crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the war on Ukraine, and the cost-of-living crisis brought on by climate change.

The 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8) is a summit-level international conference on African development that was initiated by Japan. It …

During this edition, the Tunisian private sector will offer 81 investment projects totalling US$2.7 billion dollars to investors from Africa and Japan. 37,750 employment opportunities will be created by the initiatives listed in a white paper by the Tunisian-Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCITJ).

The 128-page white paper includes proposed projects by firms. This is in addition to new projects and those that are already in place and looking for possible partners. These initiatives will be carried out as a result of a triangular relationship between Japan, Tunisia, and other African nations in fields with a high added value.

Some of these projects include 21 in the green and blue economy, the digital industry, artificial intelligence and space technologies (20), pharmaceutical and medical (17), industrial (12), infrastructure and logistics (9) and two in finance.…

United for Green is working to ensure that Africans do not get to these extremes. By empowering women, the plan is to provide clean fuel at the least risk to the environment, especially forests which are the major biomass fuel sources.

Projections show that the demand for fuel wood will see more than 2.8 million hectares of forest lost just to meet Dar es Salaam’s charcoal needs.

United for Green started before the pandemic hit in 2019, when the concept of bio charcoal was born several kilometres away in Kadzinuni, Kenya. CR Hope Foundation partnered with a group of students from Exeter University in the UK to design the charcoal briquettes production process.…

The elections, held in Algiers at a forum that brought together African ICT Ministers and the entire membership of the Union also saw Algeria take over chairmanship of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries (CPL) – the Union’s top organ comprising African ICT Ministers.  

In his acceptance speech, Omo pledged to sustain the focus of the Union’s “energies and resources to enable Africa stamp a strong footprint and authority on the global economy especially for areas that ICT can make impact in.  He thanked the Conference for the endorsement and expressed his commitment to the values of inclusivity, accountability, service and cooperation in the management of the Union and implementation of his agenda.   

OMO’s first term saw the Union engage robustly in global ICT forums and also grow its membership to 49 African countries and 56 associate members. He also, among other accomplishments, oversaw the re-planning of FM broadcasting frequencies in Africa …

As traditional markets were upended due to COVID-19-related supply chain and transportation disruption, the RPSF stepped in to provide small-scale farmers with seeds, fertilizer, access to liquidity and information. Support for digital services like e-marketing and e-money were also increased. Twenty million people have received support in 59 hard-hit countries through the RPSF so far in the past two years. 

The Annual Report 2021 also highlights IFAD’s efforts to expand its resource mobilisation by enlisting the participation of private sector partners. This builds on IFAD’s A++ credit rating, attained in 2020, which has allowed the agency to pursue co-financing through partnerships and thereby complement its core three-year “replenishment” resources. In June 2021, IFAD also launched a Sustainable Development Finance Framework to guide engagement with institutional impact investors who focus on sustainable finance. 

Other milestones in 2021 for IFAD included continuing advocacy for rural people and for a transformation of food …

Leading exhibitors from across the globe will once again head to SGI Dubai to showcase their latest innovations in a live show.

Scheduled to take place on the 19th, 20th, and 21st of September at the SGI Dubai aims to redefine the future of the printing and signage sector for the African industry stakeholders by unveiling its 25th edition this year.  

In addition to the traditional sectors such as large format digital printing, signage, textile printing, screen printing, LED, metal cutting & engraving, spare parts, software, media and consumables, the 2022 edition of the show will have a special focus on emerging technologies such as digital display, labelling, 3D printing and artificial intelligence. 

As per reports, the African printing industry is expected to cross the value of US$235.3 million by the end of 2031. An estimated 2,000 commercial printing companies are operating in Africa, most of which are small, …

The cooperation in the blue economy sector agreement, which aims to strengthen capacity building and knowledge exchange in the governance aspects of the blue economy as well as support the circular economy and collaboration in the aquaculture sector, was a key agreement among those inked.

Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) for cooperation on maritime affairs as well as peace, security, and law enforcement at sea were also inked.

Speaking to the media after the agreements were signed, Kenyatta declared that he and his host had decided to work together even more on issues pertaining to peace and security, particularly marine security.

“Seychelles is an industry pioneer in promoting the blue economy. In that sense, we have decided to intensify our cooperation in order to safeguard and ensure the sustainable use of our ocean resources, according to President Kenyatta.…

The EAC Trade & Investment Report (2020) shows EAC exports globally stood at US$16.2 billion in 2020 while imports at US$35.6 billion, registering a negative trade balance of US$19.4 billion.

Agayo Ogambi from the Shippers Council of Eastern Africa said Mombasa port throughput declined by 0.9 per cent in 2020. A total of 34.13 million tonnes of cargo were handled in 2020, which is 1.8 million tonnes shy of the target of 35.90 million tonnes in 2019.

Containerized cargo declined by 4 per cent from 1.4 tonnes (2019) to 1.35 million tonnes (2020).

Ogambi called upon government agencies to render services that are commensurate to the fees charged, as outlined in Article 6 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.…