To promote African development – Tokyo comes to Tunis

The Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8) kicked off Saturday at the Conference Palace in Tunis.

This conference is an important investment and diplomatic opportunity for Tunisia, especially in light of deteriorating economic conditions.

About five thousand attendees participated alongside presidents and foreign ministers from nearly fifty African nations in this symposium sponsored by Japan.

An Tunisian economist tells A24 that his country has brought more than 80 project proposals to the conference in hopes to attract Japanese funding. Mohamed Trabelsi, event spokesman added Tunisia wants to recapture a place in the investment market and obtain financing through this event.

Trabelsi said Japan has previously financed about 42 projects in Tunisia worth 8 billion dinars – about 2.5 billion USD.