By Rachel Mohamed
In this week’s African Mirror, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama, Japan, which began on Wednesday (20 August 2025) and will run until August 22nd. The conference theme is “Co-creating Innovative Solutions with Africa.”
The formation of TICAD was a catalyst for refocusing international attention on Africa’s development needs.
Speaking on VOC News, Dr. Paul Kariuki, Executive Director of the Democracy Development Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Convener at Africa Policy Circle (APC), viewed the summit as an important event in many ways. “First, because of what is currently happening on the continent, as a result of the geopolitical shifts taking place, we see that the continent has become a scramble for international actors who are interested in the developmental progress.”
“We see Japan entering at a time when it wants to be seen as an active player in African development beyond the four major states that already have a presence.”
“Japan is providing an alternative platform for greater diversification, as well as a partner interested in regional partnership within the continent, as evidenced by the composition of the heads of state attending the summit, who all represent different economic regions of the continent.”
Listen to the full interview:
VOC News
Photo: @NuursViews / X
