The two-day Asia-Africa Trade and Investment Conference got off to a quiet start in Tokyo, with no high-level participation from any Asian country other than Japan.
In his opening remarks, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the conference had brought "African and Asian friends together once again".
But with no ministerial participation from other Asian countries like China, India, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, the conference appeared to be a predominantly Japanese show.
Even business participation from Asian countries other than Japan was poor with not one big corporate entity from Thailand, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea and India sending any of their representatives.
When asked whether ministers from other Asian countries were invited, a senior official of the Japanese external affairs ministry said efforts must have been made to get their representation.
"Private sector fellows are reluctant to send their representatives to a conference where real business may not be concluded, even though increasing involvement of the private sector is on the agenda here," he added.
One possible explanation, as stated by some delegates from Africa, could be that China and India have already made major forays into the African market to take advantage of the growing opportunities there.
Chinese and Indian products have flooded the African market, said a participant from Senegal.
Also, the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, launched in 2000 by the Chinese government to promote Chinese investment and trade in Africa, is readying to hold its second conference at Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in December.
China may not have sent its representatives at the ongoing conference, but brochures detailing the activities of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum were freely available at the product exhibition being held as a sideshow to the conference, organised, among others, by the Japanese government, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.
In his speech, Nigerian President Olusegun Obansanjo wanted more aid, more debt relief, improved terms of trade and the repatriation of Africa's stolen funds.
Perhaps playing to the Japanese gallery, he called for the setting up of a Japan-Africa Trade and Investment Centre to strengthen Africa's links with Japan and Asia. Unlike Obansanjo, the Kenyan president, Mwai Kibaki, merely urged increased Asia-Africa private partnership and investment in the services sector.
Oxford University Professor Sanjaya Lall identified fragmented markets in Africa as a major handicap among other things, but these in his view could be overcome provided the structural problems were resolved by strengthening local capabilities along with facilitating access to foreign skills.
The World Bank presented a lucid report on Africa, which argued that Africa's annual exports to Asia have grown the fastest at 10.1 per cent during the nineties.
Japan, China and India have emerged as the key markets that account for Africa's $20 billion annual exports. That also explains why Japan and China are keen on building ties with Africa through these initiatives.
