On behalf of the President of the Commission, H.E. Omar Alieu TOURAY, The Vice-President of the ECOWAS Commission attended the 2024 Ministerial Meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) held in Tokyo on 24th-25th August 2024.The meeting which is a preparatory meeting of the TICAD IX to hold on August 2025 in Yokohama, Japan, commits to accelerate efforts to ensure food security while highlighting the importance of resilience against climate change and natural resources, as well as the enhancement of agricultural productivity.

The meeting outlined a plan to promote digitalization and emphasized the importance of the effective and responsible use of digital technology and artificial intelligence and further stressed the importance of collaborating with the private sector in tackling social issues.

On bilateral level, H.E Damtien TCHINTCHIBIDJA who was accompanied by the Director of External Relations, M. Jerome BOA, and the Adviser to the President, Mr. Mambury NJIE, had a working session with the H.E. TSUJI Kiyoto, State Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The Vice President while briefing the State Minister on the latest development in the ECOWAS region, pointed out the priority areas of ECOWAS, such as infrastructure, agriculture, digitalization, renewable energy, trade, investment and capacity building of the youth and women, as well as peace and security, that need support from its strategic partners which include Japan.

She further stress on the importance of the TICAD mechanism to deal with the Regional Economic Community bearing in mind the principle of subsidiarity and complementarity to yield tangible results and effective impact on the Africa development.

H.E. TSUJI Kiyoto reassured on Japan’s willingness to assist and strengthening its bilateral cooperation with ECOWAS while looking forward to its participation in 2025 for the TICAD IX.