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African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina and a bank team are in Japan this week for a 5-day official visit. Most of the trip will focus on leveraging the bank’s strong record of collaboration with the Asian country to attract more investments into Africa.
The Bank and Japan’s relationship goes back to 1983 when Japan joined the Bank as one of its principal non-regional members. Since then, the country has been contributing considerably to the Bank’s General Capital Increase and the continent’s development efforts. As of January 2022, Japan was the second largest contributor among non-regional shareholders to the African Development Bank.
Last year at the 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (#TICAD8) Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, said his government is willing to continue to work as “a partner growing together with Africa” and would help provide further development support and investment with a focus on startups from Japan and Africa.
During the TICAD event, Adesina named several sectors across the continent with high potential for global investment:
Renewables: Africa has an almost unlimited potential for #solar capacity, and abundant hydro, wind and geothermal energy sources. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates the continent’s renewable energy capacity could reach 310 GW by 2030.
Agriculture: The second largest continent by land and population, Africa holds 10% of the planet’s renewable fresh water and 65% of its uncultivated arable land. It is estimated that Africa’s agribusiness sector could grow to a $1 trillion industry by 2030 if well harnessed.
