JB to hold bilateral talks with Japanese PM
Malawi President Joyce Banda is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Ambassador Fujio Samukawa said over the weekend.
Banda is for the first time attending the Ticad V in Yokohama Japan from June 1 to 3 with several other African heads of state.
The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad) summit is held every five years. It was launched by Japan with African partner countries 20 years ago.
“The President is holding bilateral talks with Abe next week on the sidelines of the Ticad V conference,” Samukawa told The Nation in an interview.
The first four Ticad meetings, all hosted by Japan, focused on assisting development, reducing debt and expanding development assistance, but the theme of this year is on how to strengthen economic partnership with Africa while respecting its ownership rights.
The 2008 Ticad IV made it possible for Malawi to sign a K4.3 billion (about $10.7m) grant in 2010 for the education sector. Under Ticad IV, Japan is also installing a solar power generation at Kamuzu International Airport to help the country achieve clean energy.
The Japanese pledge, which comes at a time when its own budgetary framework for reconstruction has been expanded from K202 billion to K266 billion for FY2011-2015, will also result in the construction of a teachers training centre for secondary school teachers in Lilongwe.
Abe and Banda have one thing in common. They both came to power last year; Abe had served as Prime Minister before he resigned in 2007 only to bounce back last year after his Liberal Democratic Party won the general elections.
He became Japan’s seventh prime minister in six years to take on what is becoming the increasingly difficult task of getting the economy out of a rough tide and still remains committed to helping African countries under Ticad V.
