President John Mahama will leave for Abidjan today, Friday, to attend a summit meeting of ECOWAS Heads of Government with the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, to discuss Japan-Africa Cooperation.  

The meeting with Prime Minister Abe will focus on the outcomes of the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) held in June 2013. 

The Japanese Prime Minister is travelling to Africa with a business delegation to explore opportunities for expanding business on the African continent.

A release from the Presidency said president Mahama will return home on Saturday.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is on a week-long tour of Africa, keeping up a busy travel schedule designed to restore Japan’s global influence in the face of China’s rise.

Abe, who will visit Oman before starting his tour of the Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Ethiopia, is taking a different approach to foreign policy than his immediate predecessors, visiting a wider range of countries to try to broaden Japan’s diplomatic reach.

Abe touched down in 25 countries last year and told reporters before his departure that Africa can be seen as “a frontier for Japan’s diplomacy.”

Japan is a longtime aid donor to Africa and has stepped up its assistance over the past five years.