TICAD Ministerial-Level Meeting Monday, December 3, 2001 The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Ministerial-Level Meeting was held to discuss the variety of issues that the countries of Africa are currently facing. This January, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori proposed to hold ministerial-level talks on African development in Tokyo in December, in his policy speech for Africa, "Africa and Japan in the New Century," delivered in the Republic of South Africa, on the occasion of his visit to sub-Saharan Africa. This meeting was convened as a follow -up to his initiative, and co-chaired by Japan, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and Global Coalition for Africa (GCA). Approximately 130 countries and organizations, including all the countries of Africa, donor countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) attended the meeting. In an opening address, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced that Japan would hold a third TICAD in Japan in 2003. In addition, Prime Minister Koizumi stated, "The current situation surrounding the international community has also been politically and economically compounded by the terrorist attacks in the United States and is most serious. In such circumstances, it is necessary for the international community to join together to strengthen their common efforts to resolve the issues such as conflict and poverty that directly face the countries of Africa. We must continue to steadily progress cooperation towards the integration of Africa into the global economy."