The seminar, 7th IAfP Research Seminar Series / 101st KUASS “The Political Economy of the TICAD Process: Bureaucratic Interests and the Immobility of the Japanese Private Sector” by Dr. Kweku Ampiah (Visiting Professor, African Studies Center-Tokyo University of Foreign Studies / Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds, UK), was held on 17th December 2021. It was co-organized by the IAfP office and the Center for African Area Studies. This seminar was held as a hybrid of online (Zoom) and face-to-face, with a total of 31 participants.
In the seminar, Dr. Ampiah gave the presentation on the recent development of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) and its stakeholders such as Japanese ministries and industry groups based on his research for the Japanese diplomacy and politics to Africa. Confirming the recent development of TICAD since 2008, he examined the involvement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and the policy recommendations of Keizai Doyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives) in order to increase the involvement of the Japanese private sector in Africa’s economic development and discussed the role of PPP (Public-Private Partnership) in the process of TICAD’s development. Finally, he focused on the recommendations made by the Doyukai in August 2021 for TICAD VIII to be held in Tunisia in 2022 and posed the question on the Japanese government’s commitment to the economic development of African countries and the role of African governments in the TICAD initiative. In the Q&A session, many questions and comments were received from faculty and students, and a lively discussion was held on Japan’s economic involvement in Africa.