The collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), one of the most historically significant AUDA-NEPAD partners, began in 2003, when the Japanese government announced its intention to support NEPAD at TICAD III. The formal assistance began in 2014 with the secondment of JICA staff to strengthen the partnership between the two organisations. Cooperation has since expanded to five areas: (1) Regional Integration; (2) Kaizen; (3) Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa (IFNA); (4) Home Grown Solutions Accelerator; and (5) Policy Bridge Tank, with the first Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed in 2014 and subsequent renewals in 2017 and 2021.

The AUDA-NEAPD-JICA Annual Consultation Conference was held in Tokyo, Japan, on November 1, 2022, with its expanding areas of collaboration to Strategic Initiatives such as ENERGIZE AFRICA, promoting peace through development, and capacity building for Member States, and highlighting the significance of this reviewing exercise.

Key Outcomes from the AUDA-NEPAD – JICA Annual Consultation Conference

AUDA-NEPAD and JICA Annual Consultation Conference have served as an important platform to review and discuss key areas of collaboration between the two organisations. The renewal of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between AUDA-NEPAD and JICA was completed in 2021 and its Plan of Joint Action was developed. The Plan of Joint Action has guided a coordinated and efficient delivery of the work over the last year. In this Annual Conference, the key areas of current collaboration that are outlined in the Plan of Joint Action were reviewed and commended by the CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, Mrs. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, and the JICA Senior Vice President, Mr. ANDO Naoki. These include:

1. Regional Integration: Support to Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and trade facilitation including One-Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) in line with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
2. Africa Kaizen Initiative: Support to ongoing implementation and expansion of the Africa Kaizen Initiative at the continental level.
3. Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Arica (IFNA): Support to accelerate the implementation of food and nutrition security policies.
4. Home Grown Solutions Accelerator: Support to strengthen Africa’s ability to respond to future disease outbreaks.
5. Policy Bridge Tank: Support to African think tanks and research organisations to shape the future of African development systems.

In addition to maintaining and expanding the current five areas of collaboration, it was determined that the following additional areas are significant and should be explored for further collaboration between the two organisations. These include (1) Energize Africa to support Africa's youth development as well as African innovation and business start-ups; (2) The triple nexus of peace, security, and development, particularly in the context of human security; (3) jointly engaging in a comprehensive reflection on the TICAD 30 years process; and (4) an impact study of the AfCFTA. The collaboration continues to expand and realise the aspirations of the flagship initiatives and Africa's top priorities.

High-Level Discussion with the Japanese Stakeholders

CEO of AUDA-NEPAD’s participation in TICAD-8 in August in Tunisia as a core member of the AUC Delegation provided an opportunity for sharing her impression with the Government of Japan and Japanese business communities. To highlight her perspectives on key results, opportunities, and agreements from the AUDA-NEPAD – JICA Annual Consultation Conference in 2022, high-level discussions were made with the following Japanese stakeholders: (1) State Minister for Foreign Affairs; (2) Japan AU Parliamentary Friendship League; (3) JICA President; (4) Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO); (5) Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai); and (6) Toyota Tsusho Corporation.

The high-level discussion yielded insights on scaling up the collaboration with public and private sectors to realise the CEO’s vision and the emerging priorities of Africa’s development. With its growing partnership, AUDA-NEPAD and Japanese stakeholders underlined the importance and need to keep the spirit of inclusiveness and ownership/partnership that has prevailed in the TICAD process.

Keynote Speech for the Africa Diplomatic Corps and African Youth in Tokyo

The AUDA-NEPAD mission to Japan concluded successfully with an inspiring keynote speech delivered by the CEO of AUDA-NEPAD to the Africa Diplomatic Corps and Africa Youth studying in Japan under the ABE Initiative (or African Business Education Initiative). Madam CEO elaborated on the goals and objectives of AUDA-NEPAD and solicited the African Ambassadors' support for the programmes and the CEO's vision of her leadership. In her keynote speech, Madam CEO expressed her passion for youth issues and referred to her vision and flagship programme, Energize Africa, which has three components:

1. Regenerating the Public Sector:

• Strengthening supportive/enabling and context specific policy and legislative environment by deploying youth to provide capacity in sectoral departments at country and regional levels.
• Strengthening public service delivery by deploying increased youth technological and emerging management and business skills and competencies

2. Regenerating the Private Sector

• Facilitating the setting up of purpose-driven Innovation Hubs in member states as well as context-specific support to strengthening existing ones.
• Creation of start-ups and building capacity of Start-up/Micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) to innovate, deploy, expand and grow through the acquired skills and experience.
• Establishing networks of innovation hubs for knowledge and experience sharing, building social capital as well as exposing and broker partnerships and alliances.

3. Blended Public Private Partnership Programmes

• Enhance capacity of MSMEs to enable them to grow as viable and competitive businesses including venturing into impact investments through venture capital and bring business solutions to the continent’s economic drive.
• Provide Institutional support to strategic priorities areas for research, innovation and technological development and commercialisation, through direct support to Standard Bureaus and Intellectual Property Rights Bureaus.

As the Japan mission has concluded with the refinement of ongoing joint activities and the identification of opportunities for further collaboration with the public and private sectors, AUDA-NEPAD would like to thank all Japanese esteemed partners, and JICA in particular, for their strong collaboration and support.