On November 29, Mr. HOSAKA Yasushi, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, received a courtesy call from H.E. Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems. The outline of the courtesy call is as follows. 

At the outset, Parliamentary Vice-Minister HOSAKA expressed his appreciation for the contribution of H.E. Dr. Mayaki, who has been actively involved in the TICAD process and promoted Japan’s contribution for Africa since his time as the Chief Executive Officer of the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) as TICAD celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

Parliamentary Vice-Minister HOSAKA also stated that food security and improvement of agricultural productivity are important issues in Africa. He expressed his respect for H.E. Dr. Mayaki, who bears the important responsibility of addressing Africa’s challenges.

In response, H.E. Dr. Mayaki expressed his appreciation for Japan’s efforts and described priorities for African food system reform, stating his expectation for Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises to expand in Africa in the field of food. Finally, both confirmed the strengthening of cooperation between Japan and Africa in the food sector as well as continued cooperation toward TICAD 9.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.