Business

LUDZIDZINI - His Majesty King Mswati says Japan has opened its doors to financially support partnerships between Africans, including emaSwati and Japanese businesses.

The King revealed this during a press conference held at Ludzidzini Royal Residence yesterday afternoon, upon his return from participating in the 45^th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ordinary Summit in Madagascar and the ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in Japan. This was after his arrival at King Mswati III International Airport yesterday at around 10am, together with Inkhosikati LaMatsebula, who had accompanied him. As he was briefing the media, the King said Japan established TICAD to partner with African countries as they are still developing. He said Japan is a developed country - economically, technologically and in infrastructure and such a partnership means the future is bright for Africa, including Eswatini.

“Japan is investing huge money in Africa, in billions of US Dollars, through TICAD, start-ups, partnerships and bilateral relationships,” the King said.

After that, the King said Japan mentioned that it will be hosting the World Expo 2025 and invited African countries, including Eswatini, to partake in order to promote themselves to the world. He said Eswatini will use this opportunity to lure investors to invest in the country.

The media then asked the King what can members of the public can do in terms of taking full advantage and supporting the investors in order to develop the economy of the country, region and African continent at large.

The media also asked what the country should expect from his meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister (PM) Ishiba Shigeru. In response, the King said as he had highlighted previously, Japan established TICAD to partner with Africa and during the meeting, they discussed how they would use the partnership to realise development in the continent.

Full article available in our publication.

His Majesty King Mswati III greeting some of the officials who welcomed him at the airport on Sunday morning.