Close Kenya, Japan co-operation has achieved a lot
Ryoichi Horie
Kenya made history in 2016 when the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development—TICAD VI—was held in Nairobi.
This was the first TICAD Summit, in its 23-year history, to be held in Africa. It attracted 30 African Heads of State and government, 70 chief executives of Japanese companies and more than 11,000 participants, making it the highest number of participants ever in a TICAD summit.
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It is not surprising the landmark conference was held in Nairobi as Japan shares special ties with Kenya.
Japan and Kenya established diplomatic relations immediately after Kenya’s independence. In the past 56 years of close Japan-Kenya collaboration, the two countries have enjoyed warm relations and during this period much has been achieved.
The relations between Japan, not just with Kenya, but with Africa moved to a higher level in the early 1990s. With the end of the Cold War, the developed countries’ interest in providing development assistance to Africa began to decline.
Japan was, however, steadfast in its commitment to continue supporting economic growth in Africa – and this gave birth to the first TICAD conference held in Tokyo 1993.
The main objective of TICAD has been to support political and economic reform in Africa and focus the attention of the international community on the continent.
The conference ended with the “Tokyo Declaration on African Development”, a guideline and vision which emphasised what has now become the twin principles of TICAD: “African ownership and International Partnership”.
This week, the TICAD VII conference will be held in Yokohama, Japan. Given TICAD’s history, we can be sure that this will yet again present major opportunities for Africa’s social and economic advancement.
The relations between Japan and Kenya is a perfect example of the kind of collaboration that Japan seeks with other African nations.
A case in point is the “Big Four agenda” initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta, which gives priority to the four pillars which are food security, affordable housing, universal health care, and manufacturing.
Japan is committed to helping Kenya achieve these objectives, as they coincide with the priorities already being addressed or under consideration for country assistance policy by the government of Japan.
On food security, Japan has been active through the Japan International Cooperation Agency in promoting innovation and development in agriculture. The Mwea Irrigation Development Project is the cornerstone of our joint efforts to help Kenya maximise rice production using the latest rice-growing technology from Japan. At the moment, 70 per cent of the rice produced in Kenya comes from Mwea.
Regarding universal health coverage, Japan and Kenya have a long history of cooperation in the health sector, focusing on human resource development. Most recently, Japan provided Kenya with a policy loan to support efforts to achieve UHC.
In manufacturing, for many years, Japan has contributed in the development of infrastructure, which is crucial in creating an enabling environment for the industrial sector.
The development of the Mombasa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a perfect example. The development of the SEZ, led by the Kenyan government in conjunction with Japan, is expected to create 27,000 jobs.
Driven by high-quality infrastructure, the SEZ together with the port of Mombasa and planned industrial clusters will advance the future economic development of Kenya.
Japan has a long and fruitful history with the Olkaria Geothermal Power Plant which spans close to 40 years and includes the most recently completed Olkaria V and the refurbishment of the older units.
Japan is committed to working closely with Kenya to develop the power sector that is, not only critical to social and economic development, but also clean to protect the environment and assures the health of the nation.
There is much more to look forward to, from this collaboration. I am personally dedicated to promoting this collaboration with all my strength and ability.
— The writer is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Kenya
