INVITATION TO THE MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES

What:                 The Preparatory Ministerial Meeting for the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development Summit (TICAD VI).

When:                16-17 June 2016

Where:               Banjul, the Islamic Republic of The Gambia

Who:                  Japan, the African Union Commission, the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (UNOSAA), United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank the World Bank

Objectives:       The Preparatory Ministerial Meeting for the TICAD VI Summit aims to engage the African and Japanese Ministers to review the work done in preparation for the upcoming TICAD VI Summit, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 27 to 28 August 2016, and more importantly consider the draft Nairobi Declaration. The Ministerial meeting will also consider the draft progress report 2013 - 2015 of the implementation of the TICAD V Yokohama Action Plan (2013-2017), and as well   adopt the TICAD VI Summit schedule and agenda.

Participants:  The Government of Japan, AU Member States, representatives of the TICAD Co-organizers, International Organizations, representatives of partner countries, international, regional and sub-regional organizations, and African and Japanese civil society.

Background:

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) was launched in 1993 by Japan, with the dual objective of promoting high-level political dialogue between Africa and its development partners and mobilizing support in favor of African development initiatives.

The next TICAD Summit, the first ever TICAD Summit to be held in Africa,  in Nairobi, Kenya, on 26-27 August 2016 will be a major turning point in the TICAD process following the  acceptance  of the principle of rotation in the hosting of TICAD Summits between Africa and Japan.

The TICAD VI Senior Officials Meeting was held in Djibouti, Republic of Djibouti from 14-15 March 2016.  The Meeting considered the draft progress report (2013 – 2015) of the implementation of the TICAD V Yokohama Action Plan (2013-2017) and shaped the outlines of the draft “Nairobi Declaration”. 

The Ministerial Meeting in Banjul will further discuss both the substantive and logistic issues for the Nairobi Summit, notably the draft Nairobi Declaration, developed from the Outline Nairobi Declaration adopted at the Djibouti Meeting. The Declaration has identified three priority areas: 1) Promoting structural economic transformation through economic diversification and industrialization; 2) Promoting resilient health systems for quality of life; and 3) Promoting social stability for shared prosperity. 

The Meeting will also consider and adopt the Report on the implementation of the TICAD V Action Plan. 

Media representatives are invited to cover the meeting.