Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is considering making a tour of Africa during Japan’s long holiday period between late April and early May to strengthen cooperation in economic security, government sources said Tuesday.
Possible destinations include Angola, South Africa and Kenya, and Japan hopes to advance its free and open Indo-Pacific initiative by deepening ties with those resource-rich nations seen as key partners in ensuring stable supply chains, according to the sources.
Angola holds abundant reserves of crude oil and natural gas. With tensions in the Middle East underscoring the need to diversify energy procurement, Motegi is expected to seek stable supplies for importing countries including Japan.
South Africa, the only African member of the Group of 20, hosts many Japanese companies. Motegi is also set to reaffirm Japan’s commitment to promoting private-sector investment pledged at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development held in Yokohama last August, and to express support for geothermal power development projects.
Kenya, facing the Indian Ocean, hosted TICAD in 2016, where then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe first advocated the FOIP concept. Motegi is likely to confirm cooperation to further develop the initiative.
