Information and communications technology (ICT) is one of the issues singled out for discussion during an SA delegation mission to African development talks currently under way in Japan.
President Thabo Mbeki and foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma are heading the delegation to the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). The event ends today.
The meeting, which is also attended by presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, is aimed at supporting African development in crucial areas. Among the issues under discussion are conflict prevention, water supplies, disease control, governance, infrastructure and ICT.
TICAD is an initiative for African development launched in 1993 through the joint efforts of Japan, the UN and the Global Coalition for Africa. The World Bank joined the TICAD co-organisers in 2000.
Since the normalisation of bilateral relations in 1992, Japan has regularly indicated that both SA and Japan are the driving economic forces in their respective regions. The SA government says in a statement that Japan views SA as a strategic partner in the African continent and has consistently expressed the wish to synchronise the TICAD and NEPAD processes.
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