Japan and Africa’s Economic Development: Where is the Public-Private Partnership?

Abstract

As a new developmental paradigm that focuses on the perennial development challenges facing the African countries, the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) unravels an acutely observed narrative about Africa’s unfolding dialogue with modernization and economic growth.

Since the first TICAD Summit in 1993 and continuing through to TICAD VI in 2016, the stakeholders involved in the process have explored different themes and facets of Africa’s development problems in an attempt to jump-start the region’s economic development.

Despite Japan’s good intentions its economic presence in Africa (and indeed in Ghana) remains insignificant. Why is that so; why is Japan’s FDI stock in Africa negligible, what roles do the Japanese private sector play in Africa?