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Over 300 memorandums between Japan and African nations eyed at TICAD

Over 300 memorandums between Japan and African nations eyed at TICAD

NHK13 hours ago
The Japanese government and companies plan to exchange more than 300 memorandums with their counterparts from Africa who are visiting Japan to attend the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD.
The Japan-led conference will take place over three days from Wednesday in Yokohama, near Tokyo.
Sources say the Japanese government and firms plan to sign the memorandums with their partners from Africa in a bid to deepen relations with them.
Some of them are designed to help the governments of African nations import Japanese products in seven fields, such as healthcare and agriculture.
Japanese financial institutions will provide loans to governments in Africa via the African Export-Import Bank. Insurance companies affiliated with the Japanese government are to underwrite the loans to facilitate the transactions.
In one case, the Kenyan government is expected to obtain a loan insured for hundreds of millions dollars so that it can be used as a subsidy to promote investments from Japanese automakers and others.
Africa, with its growing population, is viewed as a growth market amid uncertainty for the outlook for Japanese exports due to the Trump administration's tariff measures.
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