A Ministerial-level Preparatory Meeting for the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-VI) was held in Banjul, Capital of the Islamic Republic of Gambia, from 16th to 17th June 2016.

TICAD is a conference held regularly with the objective to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners. The meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Islamic Republic of The Gambia, and organised in collaboration with the Japanese Government, the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (UNOSAA), the African Union Commission, the World Bank and UNDP.

The two-day ministerial-level meeting discussed the draft outcome document of what would become the Nairobi Declaration, as well as discuss concrete measures for the implementation of the Nairobi Declaration. It also took stock of progress made since the adoption of the Yokohama Declaration and Action Plan in 2013.

The outcome document of the Banjul meeting will be tabled at the Nairobi Summit, which will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27and 28 August 2016, the first time such a Summit will be held on African soil.

The Nairobi Summit will bring together the leaders of Japan and African countries, international partners, the private sector and civil society organizations.

Ambassador Joseph Nourrice, representing Minister Joël Morgan in the meeting, called for the inclusion of the blue economy to be firmly grounded into the implementation plan under the TICAD VI cycle.

The Ambassador advocated that there is an abundance of untapped wealth in our seas that we can harness in a sustainable manner, and that this concept also provides food security and energy security to millions of people, and not forgetting that oceans provide a platform for trade.

In this context, Ambassador Nourice also called on the need to develop trade routes, particularly maritime corridors amongst islands states

Moreover, the Seychelles Ambassador called for TICAD to be the first multilateral platform in partnership with Africa, to adopt and support the use of the vulnerability index for access to resources and inclusion in multilateral projects. Stating that, “the adoption of the UN classification of countries based on GDP per capita is not a true reflection of the situation on the ground,” and added further that, “the main constraint for Small Island Developing States is access to resources.  The global financial order is such that the more you develop the less resources become available at your disposal.”

The Seychelles delegation was headed by Ambassador Joseph Nourrice, Seychelles Permanent Representative to the African Union, and he was accompanied by Mr. Christian Faure, First Secretary, Foreign Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Transport. The Seychelles delegation also participated in the Senior Officers Meeting on the 15th of June, in preparation for the Ministerial meeting.