Ex-Japan premier Mori urges Africa to take part in African conference
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ADDIS ABABA - Visiting former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori called on African leaders Thursday to take part in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama in May.
‘’This year will be an extremely significant year for Japanese diplomacy toward Africa,'’ Mori said, making a speech as Japanese representative at the opening ceremony for the 10th Ordinary Session of the African Union’s Assembly.
‘’We hope that the conference will serve as a place that can accomplish concrete results on economic development, peace building and environment issues (facing Africa),'’ he said. ‘’We would like to reflect voices brought up during the conference in the (Group of Eight) summit to contribute to the expectation and future of children.'’
The upcoming summit of eight industrialized nations is scheduled to be held in July at the Lake Toya hot spring resort area in Hokkaido.
Mori also announced that Tokyo will extend $4.1 million in refugee aid to Kenya, which is still mired in chaos following last year’s presidential election, through the U.N. World Food Program and other entities.
He also unveiled plans to contribute to poverty reduction in Africa through support for training facilities of U.N. peacekeeping operations, measures against global warming and economic development assistance.
Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Development