<<May 20, 2008>>

<<May 20, 2008>>
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Dr. Thomas Mensah <gaaerosp55@aol.com>

Dr. Boubakar Barry
Coordinator, Research and Education Networking Unit
Association of African Universities (AAU)
P.O.Box 5744 Accra North, Ghana
Tel: (233)21 774495/761588
Mobile: (233)24 6682059
Fax: (233)21 774821
barry@aau.org
boubakarbarry@gmail.com
Website: http://www.aau.org

References:

(a) (02/14/08) Idea for Trans-Africa Ultra High Speed Optical Fiber Network
<http://tinyurl.com/3x4roy>

(b) The Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV)
From 28 to 30 May, 2008, Yokohama, Japan
<http://www.undp.org/ticad2/news-20080126.shtml>

(c) “Fukuda to vow to double aid, investment to Africa”
05/20/2008, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
<http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200805200248.html>
See also ATTACHMENT I below.

Dear Boubakar:

(1) Many thanks for your recent msgs about your effort of introducing our idea of Trans-Africa Ultra High Speed Optical Fiber Network mentioned in the reference (a) above to the people of the African Union Commission (AUC).

As you suggest, I would be very delighted to discuss about this ideas with them. Pls inform me their names, addresses, and emails, etc., including the one of Dr. Beatrice Djenga in Ethiopia.

As you see in the Reference (c) above, the Japanese government will pledge the construction of superhighway network connecting various African countries at the TICAD IV. Our idea of the Reference (a) above is to request them to include the deployment of the ultra-high speed optical fiber along the superhighway, since such deployment can best be done at this occasion along the construction of the super highway.

Dear Tom:

(2) In the Item (5) of the Reference (a), I suggested that you may form a team of this project, since you are the world renown expert on the optical fiber network (see ATTACHMENT I of the Reference (a)), and you know the President of the AU.

Best, Tak

ATTACHMENT I

“Fukuda to vow to double aid, investment to Africa”

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will pledge to double aid and private investment to Africa by 2012 at an international conference on African development next week, according to a draft of his speech obtained Tuesday.

The government hopes to show it is taking the initiative in encouraging self-sustenance and growth in African countries through comprehensive assistance measures when it hosts the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) in Yokohama.

Fukuda expressed his intention to double official development assistance (ODA) during a meeting of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Council at the Prime Minister's Official Residence on Tuesday morning.

He will deliver his speech containing that pledge when the three-day TICAD IV opens on Wednesday next week.

In 2005, Tokyo vowed to double ODA to Africa in three years and fulfilled that promise last fiscal year.

However, critics pointed out that the effectiveness of the ODA was not clear because a large proportion was allocated to debt relief.

Fukuda's new pledge involves raising the amount of fresh yen loans and grant assistance to Africa, currently set at about 100 billion yen, to 200 billion yen in 2012. Japan hopes to bring the total net increase to about 300 billion yen over a period of five years.

According to the draft of Fukuda's speech, Tokyo hopes to present Japan's postwar economic growth driven by private investment as a model for Africa.

The government plans to focus the increased amount of yen loans on construction of infrastructure, such as highway networks, power generation and port facilities, and encourage direct investment from overseas.

The draft also identifies Africa's natural resources, including crude oil and rare metals, as an initiator for growth, and will touch upon plans to dispatch a large-scale business mission to Africa after this summer.

Fukuda's speech will also mention a plan by the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) to set up an "African investment facility," a new program that will fund development projects.

Through such efforts, the Japanese government hopes to increase the outstanding balance of direct private-sector investment in Africa by Japanese companies, which averaged $1.7 billion between 2002 and December 2006, to $3.4 billion by the end of 2012.

On other issues, Fukuda will call upon participants at TICAD IV to use a new $10-billion funding mechanism known as the Cool Earth Partnership to alleviate damage in Africa caused by climate change.

Coping with the negative impact of global warming is a key issue that will be discussed at the Group of Eight summit in Lake Toyako, Hokkaido, in July.

Fukuda will also pledge to allocate a "considerable portion" of $100 million that Tokyo promised in April as emergency assistance to alleviate the effects of the global food crisis. He will also announce plans to double rice production in Africa in the next decade from 14 million tons produced in 2006. (IHT/Asahi: May 20, 2008)

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