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Works of the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8) opened Saturday at the Convention Palace in Tunis, with attendance of President of the Republic Kaïs Saïed and Japan's PM Fumio Kishida (via video conference) and twenty African heads of state and government.

Sixty-six official delegations representing 48 countries (FMs, ministers of economy and trade and diplomatic corps) are attending the conference along with regional and international organisations, civil society and 120 journalists.

This is the eighth edition since the inaugural TICAD conference in Tokyo on October 5-6, 1993. The two-day event is expected to identify ways to build resilience and achieve inclusion and abundance in Africa in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, global warming and the state of play in Ukraine.

It seeks to foster a high-level political dialogue between African leaders and development partners and harness support for Africa's initiatives in a bid to secure self-sustained development.

Nearly 50 large Japanese firms will take part in TICAD 8 business forum due on Saturday afternoon. They will be represented by 100 business managers and executive directors. A total of 300 businessmen (100 from Africa, 100 from Tunisia and as many from Japan) will attend the event.

About 81 investment projects worth 2.7 billion dollars (about 8.5 billion dinars) will be presented by the Tunisian private sector to African and Japanese investors during this edition. These projects included in a white paper by the Tunisian-Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCITJ) would generate 37,750 jobs.

The 128-page white paper involves projects that have been proposed by growing businesses, besides new projects and others already in place and seeking potential partners.

These projects will be implemented as part of a triangular partnership Japan-Tunisia-Other African countries in sectors with high added value.

The sectors are the green and blue economy (21 projects), the digital sector, artificial intelligence and space technologies (20), pharmaceutical and medical (17), industrial (12), infrastructure and logistics (9) and finance (2).