A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has attended the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, which is being held in the Japanese port city of Yokohama.

The participants include state leaders and senior officials from 52 African countries and representatives of international organizations such as the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the UN World Food Programme, as well as some Asian countries.

During the three-day event, the delegates will discuss a series of issues such as the food crisis’s impact on Africa, security, efforts to achieve the millennium development goals, preventing climate change, and enhancing Africa’s capacity to manage.

At the opening ceremony, Japan’s Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda pledged to double Japan’s official development assistance to Africa by 2021, including US$4 billion in low-interest loans with a 30-year duration.

Japan will also train 100,000 skilled workers for Africa in the next five years and send medical staff trained in contagious diseases and other experts to Africa to help improve the quality of water sources there.

Source: VOV