President attends first day of Ticad 8 in Tunis |29 August 2022

President Ramkalawan (first left, front row) among other African leaders attending the Ticad 8

Along with other African leaders, President Wavel Ramkalawan on Saturday, attended the first day of the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad 8).

During the opening session, the Tunisian President, Kais Saied, delivered opening remarks. Tunisia is the second African country to host a Ticad summit. Kenya was the first African country to do so, in 2016.
Keynote speeches were delivered by Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal and chairperson of the African Union, as well as Kishida Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan. It is to be noted that the Prime Minister of Japan is attending the summit virtually from Japan.
Japan has pledged a sum of US $30 billion dollars over the next three years for African development with a focus on human capital.
During the two-day Summit, the high level delegations from African countries, Japan as well as other organisations such as the African Development Bank, the African Union, World Trade Organisation, UNDP  and other UN agencies will be deliberating around issues related to the Covid-19 recovery and the declaration entails points of cooperation under three pillars:
A. Realising Africa as a vigorously growing region while taking advantage of resolving social issues as opportunities of development;
B. Realising a resilient and sustainable society;
C. Realising sustainable Peace and Stability.
On his arrival in Tunis on Friday, President Ramkalawan was welcomed by Najla Bouden Romdhane, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Tunisia. Also in the welcoming party were the Tunisian Minister for Defence, Imed Memiche; the Tunisian Minister for Women, Children and the Elderly, Amel Belhaj Moussa; the Tunisian Minister for Sports and Youth, Kamel Deguiche; the Tunisian Minister for Tourism, Mohamed  Belhassine; and the Mayor of Tunis, Souad Abderrahim.

The Ticad summit is co-hosted by the government of Japan, the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the African Union Commission (AUC).
Accompanying the President in Tunisia are Conrad Mederic, ambassador of Seychelles to the African Union and to Ethiopia, Lindy Ernesta, director general, Bilateral Affairs, Foreign Affairs department and Rached Triméche, honorary consul general of the Republic of Seychelles in Tunisia.

Press release from the Office of the President