Mahama urges Japan to ‘quickly’ release funding for Africa’s development

President John Mahama has made a strong case for the speedy and timely implementation of projects agreed between African Governments and foreign businesses investors.

He noted that although African nations are willing to improve on their infrastructure to woo more foreign investors to do business on the continent, it takes a longer time for authorisation of funding of those projects.

President Mahama made the statement on Thursday, when he participated in a special Africa-Japan TICAD roundtable at the ongoing Davos World Economic Forum. 

The discussions, a follow-up to the June 2013 Tokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD V, brought together African leaders, ministers, heads of international organizations and business leaders to identify critical challenges and redefine the role of Japan in Africa's development.  

"We recognise the obligatations we have as nation states (Africa) to create the environment that makes it conducive for trade and investment to take place but we also must give feedback to our Japanese compatriots that the period from conception of projects to financing and delivering is often too long," president Mahama stated.

He however assured the Japanese government of Ghana and for that matter Africa's determination to create favorable environment for trade and investments.

"We have no illusions about our challenges, but we are working on them and we are determined that we create an environment that is conducive for trade and investment.

"Actually that's why the engagement with Japan is even more interesting because Japan has the technology and investment; we are willing to partner with both the Japanese government and the private sector to ensure that we fix the infrastructure," president Mahama affirmed.