Connecting Japan and Africa with economics, culture and dreams

About AFRECO

In the 1960s, many African countries became independent and tried to be economically self-sufficient by utilizing their abundant natural resources. While they demanded investments and technologies from the other countries, Japan was experiencing rapid economic growth and was attracted by the African great natural resources. Under the circumstances, the Association of African Economic and Development Japan (AFRECO) was established by influential political and financial circles in 1970 to promote economic cooperation among Japan and African countries.
AFRCO is to deepen economic and cultural exchanges, nurture the friendship between African countries and Japan, and contribute to mutual prosperity. AFRECO focuses on cooperating economic activities at the grassroots level and on creating projects in African countries that could have economic impacts on the Japanese government and corporations.

Golden Image Award ceremony in Liberia

Greetings

For the past thirty years, I have been committed to helping develop the African continent and solve its problems as one of my lifeworks.… I also began to ask myself what I could do for Africa and what kind of partnerships I could develop. That way of being is no different today.

Today, Africa is struggling with many challenges. In order to resolve them, I believe it is important to assess the situation one by one and to respond carefully, taking into account macro indicators. Firstly, on the basis of the above recognition, AFRECO actively supports several projects undertaken by its member companies and institutions… Secondly, there are the projects that AFRECO manages… In these initiatives, it cooperates with its member companies and institutions.

All AFRECO initiatives are carried out in partnership with African Heads of State, Ministers, Presidents of Development Finance Institutions and Ambassadors of African countries in Tokyo. It also works with the support of many relevant Japanese ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japanese embassies abroad, the Ministry of Finance, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for all their support.

(Excerpt from "AFRECO Review TICAD 30th Anniversary – Dialogue with Mr. Tetsuro Yano President AFRECO")
To read the full article, click here.

Tetsuro Yano,President of AFRECO