Yokohama, Japan, Tuesday 27 August 2019 – His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio and Her Excellency Madam Fatima Bio have arrived in Yokohama, south of the Japanese capital, Tokyo, ahead of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) scheduled for the 28 – 30 August.
The President and his delegation were received by senior officials of the Government of Japan and Sierra Leone’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Honourable Mrs Nabeela Tunis who had been part of an advanced team on the preparation of the summit.
He will commence participation on Wednesday 28 August at the opening session of the TICAD7 Summit, together with a large number of other African Heads of State and Government and representatives of international organisations, development partners, private companies, civil society organisations, and non-governmental organisations.
TICAD is the largest international conference normally held in Japan and thousands of participants are expected to participate in this year’s Summit.
Whilst in Japan, the President is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with Japanese Prime Minister, His Excellency Shinzō Abe, to strengthen the relationship between the two countries. He is also expected to meet the vice president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the agency that coordinates official development assistance for the government of Japan. President Bio and the First Lady, Madam Fatima Bio, are also expected to participate in several other events on the margins of the Summit.
The theme for the Summit is: “Advancing Africa’s development through people, technology and innovation”, having three pillars of this year – accelerating economic transformation and improving the business environment through innovation and private sector engagement; deepening sustainable and resilient society; and strengthening peace and stability.
This is President Bio’s maiden summit on Tokyo International Conference on African Development since his election as President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. The last TICAD Summit (TICAD6) was held in 2016 for the first time in Africa in Nairobi, Kenya and it was attended by 11,000 people including business persons from about 200 Japanese companies.
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