YOKOHOMA: Africa has everything it takes to become a \u201crenewable superpower,\u201d UN head Antonio Guterres said Thursday, as he called for greater investment in green energy across the resource-rich continent.<\/p>\n
Guterres spoke at a three-day development conference in Japan attended by African leaders, where Tokyo is offering itself as an alternative to China as African nations reel from a debt crisis exacerbated by Western aid cuts, conflict and climate change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must mobilize finance and technology, so that Africa\u2019s natural wealth benefits African people, we must build a thriving renewables and manufacturing base across the continent,\u201d Guterres said at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).<\/p>\n
\u201cGreen power in Africa lowers energy costs, diversifies supply chains and accelerates decarbonization for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
China has invested heavily in Africa over the past decade, with its companies there signing deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars to finance shipping ports, railways, roads and other projects under Beijing\u2019s Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative.<\/p>\n
But new lending is drying up, and developing countries are grappling with a \u201ctidal wave\u201d of debt to both China and international private creditors, the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, said in May.<\/p>\n
African countries have also seen Western aid slashed, in particular due to President Donald Trump\u2019s dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).<\/p>\n
Guterres warned in his speech in the Japanese port city of Yokohama that \u201cdebt must not drown development\u201d and that Africa needed increased concessional finance and greater lending capacity from multilateral development banks.<\/p>\n
He also urged greater investment in climate solutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfrica has everything it takes to become a renewable superpower, from solar and wind to the critical minerals that power new technology,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Attendees at TICAD included Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Kenyan President William Ruto.<\/p>\n
Ruto said on social media platform X that Kenya was in talks with Japanese automaker Toyota for the provision of 5,000 \u201ce-mobility vehicles\u201d as part of the country\u2019s \u201ccommitment to clean energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his opening address at the forum on Wednesday, Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced a plan to train 30,000 people in artificial intelligence in Africa over three years and to study the idea of a Japan-Africa Economic Partnership.<\/p>\n
Before the meeting kicked off, Ishiba also announced a vision for a distribution network that links African and Indian Ocean nations.<\/p>\n
Both Tinubu and Ramaphosa, speaking on X, said they wanted a shift from aid to investment partnerships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
YOKOHOMA: Africa has everything it takes to become a \u201crenewable superpower,\u201d UN head Antonio Guterres said Thursday, as he called for greater investment in green energy across the resource-rich continent. Guterres spoke at a three-day development conference in Japan attended by African leaders, where Tokyo is offering itself as an alternative to China as African […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-498038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n