Speakers

Aiichiro Yamamoto,Resident Representative, JICA

Julius Court,  Research Fellow, ODI

Izumi Ohno, Professor, GRIPS

Motoki Takahashi, Professor, University of Kobe

David Sunderland, Research Associate, ODI

Sven Grimm, Research Fellow, ODI

Vincent Geronimi, President, GEMDEV, Paris

Tony Killick - ODI

Aiichiro Yamamoto opened the workshop and thanked ODI for organising the event: a rare and valuable opportunity for Japanese and UK aid academics and practitioners to discuss Africa in the run-up to the G8 session in July. He had been approached by Julius Court and Debbie Warrener of ODI last year regarding this initiative: a study of UK and other EU countries approaches to Africa in the run up to the G8. Simon Maxwell and Tony Killick of ODI were also involved, as were other ODI researchers. Professors Takahashi and Ohno, both prominent aid academics of GRIPS are also involved.

Donors tend to focus primarily on aid when discussing African development, but aid is only part of development, which includes aid, trade, governance issues, peace and security etc.

The Commission for Africa (CFA) report has highlighted all of these issues and it is therefore important to follow this agenda. Mr Yamamoto hoped all discussion and debate at this workshop will be taken to a set of Tokyo events before the G8 summit.

Julius Court welcomed participants. In his previous work with UN University in Tokyo, he had been struck by lack of conversation between UK and Japan on development issues.

Therefore the goal is to bring these players together to have a deeper conversation about African development issues. The meeting provides an opportunity for policy makers, practioners and academics to meet.