H.E Mr. Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) led the AUC delegation to a 2-day Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Co-Organizers retreat in preparation for the upcoming TICAD VI Summit to be held in Nairobi, Kenya on the 27-28 August 2016 – the first to be held in an African soil.  The retreat was hosted by H.E. Amb.  Amina C. Mohamed, Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Trade of the Republic of Kenya. H.E. Mr. Norio Maruyama, Director General of African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan led the Japanese delegation, while the other TICAD Co-Organizers were duly represented at the Retreat.

The retreat deliberated on key aspects of TICAD VI organization, including the substantive contents and operational arrangements. 

[Description: TICAD 3] In the course of the discussions, H.E. Mr. Mwencha noted that the TICAD VI Summit comes at a time when the African Union is calling on all its development partners to align their engagement with Africa to the aspirations articulated in the strategic framework of Agenda 2063 and its First Ten Year Implementation Plan.  He further called for a more interactive engagement during the upcoming August TICAD VI Summit. In this regard, the Deputy Chairperson noted the importance of engaging African Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and other Regional and Sub-Regional Institutions in the TICAD process.  The Deputy Chairperson further emphasized the need for TICAD VI Summit to focus on the AU flagship programmes aimed at advancing the process of Africa’s development and integration, and fast-tracking the process of industrialization.

The retreat which received various proposals from all the delegations agreed to continue to discuss and refine them during the forthcoming preparatory process, including the TICAD Senior Officials Meeting scheduled to be held in Djibouti on 14-15 March 2016 and the TICAD Ministerial Meeting to be held in Banjul, The Gambia at a date to be determined..

The two Meetings are expected to provide additional opportunities to deepen discussion on substantive and operational aspects for the historical TICAD VI Summit in Africa.