Japan assures Africa of continued aid

 

From ALEX NJOVU in Tokyo, Japan

 
JAPAN has assured African countries including Zambia of continued financial aid despite the world global crisis.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) assistant director for African department Kemmiya Misa said her country will not abandon the African continent despite the financial crisis which has affected most countries in the world.
Ms Misa also said Japan through JICA spent about US$ 94 million on the implementation of various developmental projects in Zambia.
She said this yesterday during a press briefing at the JICA headquarters in Tokyo. 
Ms Misa said Africa remains an important partner to Japan and that her country was determined to foster development in all sectors of the economies of the continent.
She said it will not make sense to “ divorce” the African continent because of the problems that have been created by the credit crunch.
“We will not abandon or stop our aid programmes in Africa because of the financial crisis. We will continue with our projects targeted at improving the lives of people in Africa,” Ms Misa said.
She said most of the programmes that Japan is funding in Africa are aimed at reducing poverty in communities.
Ms Misa said poverty reduction is a key development goal shared by the international community and that it was also essential for eliminating terrorism and other causes of instability in the world.
“ Therefore, Japan will give high priorities to providing assistance to such sectors as education, health care and welfare, water and sanitation and agriculture and will support human and social development in the developing countries,” she said.
Ms Misa said the Japanese were committed to initiating viable projects in Africa that will impact positively on the economic development of Africa.