The Reiwa Period: Opportunities in Africa

At the beginning of the Reiwa period, Japan has been faced with new opportunities and issues from across the world. It is unfortunate that the Asia region, the place where Japan is located, also has enormous conflicts like the tension between countries in the South China Sea, where China has built its military island, and the expansion of China through its policy called One Belt One Road (OBOR), which has increased worries among international society about a debt trap.*

China tries to expand its influence across Asian countries by giving its capital and, in the meantime, recipient countries will become dependent on China’s capital. This combination of two strategies seems difficult to be challenged by other countries like the U.S. and Japan. I thought that it would be better to seek a new opportunity in another region.

I agreed with the speeches from Shinzo Abe and Kono Taro that they mentioned an agreement between Japan and Africa. In my humble opinion, I would say that the African continent seems like a long-term investment. Even though the African countries are quite diverse, and some are fragile, this region is getting better and it offers abundant opportunities.

There was an interesting point from both speakers related to the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). This international conference, led by the Japanese government and co-sponsored by the United Nations (UN), African Union Commission (AUC), and the World Bank (WB), has provided many opportunities for each institution, particularly in African countries.

Figure 1. The cooperation between Japan and Africa brings hopes to elevating many lives

Kono Taro says in his speech, “Africa is called the last frontier of the 21st century and has huge potential.” I agree with his statement because African countries now are much better than their situations during the era of the OECD and League of Nations (LON). I think, at that time, the OECD was deeply focused on Asian countries, which offered a good place for investment, rather than the African countries.

The OECD realized the economic prospects in the Asia region. This ‘rich club’ invested many MNEs across the region, including China and India. These huge markets have made African countries be left behind in the process of modernization. But now, Africa has grown from 634 million people in 1990 to 1.2 billion people in 2018*. This growing population offers business opportunities for any entity of profit and non-profit organization.

Shinzo Abe mentions in his speech, “Africa is no longer a mere recipient of development assistance; they are partners that grow together.” Also, Kono Taro emphasized the role of private-sector investments from Japan. These statements mean that African countries are a new opportunity for global investment. No matter if it’s ODA or FDI, the African countries are getting better in various sectors.

Based on the UNCTAD report in 2017, African countries have coal, crude oil, petroleum oil, natural gas, and uranium*. These resources are very valuable in this globalization era. Besides its growing population and natural resources, a new trend has been emerging in Africa since the announcement of SDGs called Green Industry*. This industry seems to fit very well with the mission of Japan, which manifests its sustainable development mission through JICA.

Development in agriculture, water, energy, health, and transportation are some examples of the key sectors in this industry. I believe that Japan has the capabilities in terms of knowledge, technologies, and experts to capture this green market and, at the same time, offer SDGs programs to African people.

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Featured Image belongs to the ABE Initiative