Japan Eyes Commercial Prize as Abe Leads Visit to Africa

The world’s third largest economy is stepping up its foreign-policy game, with interest in Africa as a continent for commodities, markets and investments. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is leading a delegation to sub-Saharan Africa, and Japan joins India, Brazil and especially China in courting the continent’s leaders. “The top Japanese trading houses, or sogo shosha, have already started to pour billions of dollars into projects including Mitsui’s project in Mozambique to produce liquefied natural gas,” reports Javier Blas for Financial Times. “Sumitomo and Mitsubishi are also targeting the region.” China has already invested billions in Africa and also financed railways, power plants, roads and other infrastructure projects, and Abe will speak at the $200 million headquarters of the African Union, which was a gift from China. Growing diverse interest could aid Africa, especially if the continent favors investors that do more than extract natural resources and go the extra step by investing in manufacturing facilities and creating jobs. – YaleGlobal