Japan pledges to double Africa aid during TICAD, explores investment opportunities

Fukuda said Japan's official development assistance (ODA) would double by 2012, bringing its five-year average annual ODA to $1.8 billion from the current $900 million.

Grant aid and technical cooperation for Africa over the next five years would also be doubled, bringing the five-year average to $1.4 billion from $700 million now, he said.

In addition, the government would give $4 billion in soft loans to Africa by 2012 to boost construction, transportation and infrastructure spending in the continent, the prime minister said, adding, "If I were to liken the history of African development to a volume of literature, then what we are about to do now is open a new page entitled the 'Century of African Growth'."

A $2.5 billion fund would also be set up within the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), a government-backed lending agency to help Japanese companies investing in Africa and to help boost the region's rice output, he added.

"Japan wants to move forward together with the countries of Africa as we work to ensure that the 21st century becomes the century of African growth," Fukuda said.

"As Africa seeks to achieve its own Green Revolution, I would like to put out a call for action aiming to double the current rice production output of 14 million tonnes over the next 10 years," he said, adding, "We are deeply concerned that many African countries are seeing great difficulty as a result of the recent sharp rise in food prices."

A significant portion of Japan's recently promised emergency food assistance package equivalent to $100 million would be provided to Africa, Fukuda said.

"With a wealth of agricultural experience, Japan is willing to cooperate with countries and international organizations to develop irrigation systems, improve the varieties of crops raised and foster workers in the field of agriculture," the prime minister said.

Japan would also train 100,000 people in health care over the next five years in Africa, where there is a shortage of 1.5 million health workers, Fukuda said.