Japan touts trade and investment at summit with African leaders

Japan hosted African leaders on Wednesday for a three-day development conference, offering itself as an alternative as the continent deals with challenges posed by Western aid cuts, conflict and climate change.

Attendees at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) included Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa, William Ruto of Kenya and UN head Antonio Guterres.

"The debt and liquidity crisis on the African continent is worsening the challenging socio-economic environment and constraining the fiscal space for governments to cast a safety net over its citizens," Ramaphosa's office said in a statement.

African countries have seen Western aid slashed, in particular through President Donald Trump's cancellation of most programmes at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Free-trade deals

TICAD was expected to touch on possible future free-trade deals between Japan and African nations, loan guarantees and investment incentives for Japanese firms, local media reported.

However, Japan's biggest business lobby, Keidanren, warned that Tokyo must work to win the trust of developing nations.