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

"Without discounting the importance of aid, improved terms of trade for Africa are critical to ensure the full integration into the global economy," Mbeki said.

"There are two important areas that need urgent attention which can help reinvigorate our relationship, and these are trade and investment," said Botswana's vice president, Mompati Merafhe. "While we recognize Japan's recent efforts to improve trade relations with Africa, a lot still needs to be done."

"African nations need to be able to trade the natural resources for the right prices. For that, we want to see markets open so we can get income from those natural resources," President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia said.

During the three-day conference, which will end on May 30, Fukuda will hold bilateral talks with about 52 African leaders, including head of states and prime ministers to discuss scope of expanding economic cooperation between Japan and Africa.

Japan is seeking to expand in influence in Africa, where it is competing with India and China for access to the continent's vast untapped natural resources.

According to Japan's Finance Ministry, Japan's trade with Africa was $27.7 billion in 2007 (a meager 2 percent of its overall trade) compared to China's $73.6 billion.