TOKYO, Aug 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Japan will offer enhanced trade insurance to boost private sector investment in Africa, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said as his country competes with rival China for influence in the resource-rich continent.
“Let me make a promise,” Abe told the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) attended by a few dozen African leaders and representatives of international organisations such as the World Bank.
“The Japanese government will do its utmost so that our private-sector investment in Africa, which came to $20 billion over the past three years, will be expanded continuously,” Abe added.
The enhanced insurance would fully cover loans to African governments, their affiliated institutions or private companies buying Japanese goods for infrastructure projects in Africa, according to government briefing materials and a state-run firm offering trade insurance. — NNN-AGENCIES
