TICAD is a conference held regularly with the objective to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners.

Over the past years, the Japanese government has invested towards assisting Africa to address its development challenges.

TICAD emerged in 1993 and the series have included: TICAD I (1993); TICAD II (1998); TICAD III (2003); TICAD IV (2008); TICAD V (2013) and TICAD VI which took place for the first time outside of Japan in Kenya in August 2016.

Japan is a co-host of these conferences. Other co-organizers of TICAD are the United Nations Office of the Special Advisor on Africa (UN-OSAA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank and African Union Commission (AUC).

The Ministerial Meeting ahead of TICAD VII scheduled to take place in August 2019 at Yokohama in Japan, is to enable participants to review the progress of commitment and priorities set out in TICAD V and VI.

The Ministerial Meeting on October 6 and 7 would be focusing on a discussion on the directions and possible priorities of TICAD VII.

The nine other African countries participating in the Ministerial Meeting alongside Ghana are Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Egypt, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Mauritius and Cote d'Ivoire.

Briefing journalists in Tokyo, an official from the Japan Foreign Ministry said the rationale behind the organisation of TICAD was to strengthen the relationship between Japan and African countries through bilateral meetings.

With regards to TICAD Seven, the official said attention would be geared towards the private sector activities as the core of economic development.