30-05-08 Over the next five years Mozambique and Zambia will share $ 780 mm provided by Japan via the World Bank for the construction of electricity transmission lines in these two member states of SADC (Southern African Development Community).
According to Japanese government sources, the money will be provided as soft loans, and everything indicates that it will be divided in line with the electrification projects submitted by the two countries to the World Bank.

The money is part of the $ 4 bn in grants and soft loans for Africa that Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fakuda announced at the opening of the fourth Japan-African summit (TICAD), in Yokohama. Unlike past practice, when Japan handled the money it granted or loaned directly. This time it has chosen to channel the funds via the World Bank.
Countries such as Zimbabwe, which have failed to honour past undertakings to the World Bank and the IMF, will not be eligible. The new scheme is based on an agreement signed between Fakuda and the President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick.

Mozambique will also be eligible for support from a Japanese fund of yen 480 mm ($ 4.5 mm) intended to co-finance the import by poor countries of basic foodstuffs which have been soaring in price in recent months. Japan has also announced a fund of $ 120 mm to finance projects in Africa to counter the effects of global warming, and a further $ 22 mm to promote African agriculture.
During the summit, the 36 African heads of state who took part, and international organisations represented at Yokohama, urged the Japanese government to increase its aid to African farmers so that they can produce more food, and thus put a brake on the rise in grain prices.

The representative for Africa of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Modibo Traore, said that what causes food shortages in Africa is the fact that food production was neglected for a long time, leading a to a 50 % fall in production -- an extremely serious phenomenon given the continuing rise in Africa's population. He argued that the provision of low interest bearing loans to African farmers would allow them to acquire improved seeds, fertilizers and other inputs, which would lead to better harvests.
During the summit, Fakuda promised that Japan would step up its support for the development of mechanized agriculture in Africa.

Fakuda is one of the world leaders scheduled to take part in the FAO summit on the international food crisis due to be held in Rome in June.
He also promised the African leaders that he will take their concerns about the same problem to the next meeting of the G-8 group of most industrialised countries, due to be held in the Japanese city of Hokkaido in July.