Panafrican News Agency

AU designates Tunisia to host TICAD 8

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - Tunisia has been designated by the 33rd African Union Summit in Addis Ababa to host the Tokyo International Conference on African  Development TICAD 8, the Tunisian Foreign Ministry announced in a statement on Monday.

TICAD 8, scheduled for 2022 in Tunis, will be the largest international meeting organized by Tunisia since its independence, in terms of the number of participants, including 50 African presidents and heads of government, in addition to the Japanese Prime Minister and members of the government.

There will also be many leaders of international organizations and more than 11,000 participants representing Japanese and African public and private sector structures, as well as experts, academicians and financial institutions.

TICAD is an initiative launched in 1993 by the Government of Japan, with the participation of the African Union, Office of the Special Adviser for Africa of the United Nations, UN Development Programme and the World Bank, to promote a high-level political dialogue between African leaders and their development partners.

The first six editions were held in Japan and Tunisia will be the second African country to host the meeting after Kenya in 2016.

-0- PANA YY/IN/JSG/BBA/MA 11Feb2020