(Minews) - Japan aims to step up financial support to promote investment by Japanese companies in African mines by accelerating bilateral meetings with each African country to bring more mining projects forward, the nation's industry minister said on Saturday.
Two years ago, Japan said it would provide $2 billion in five years to back Japanese firms' projects in Africa to help secure supplies of resources like coking coal and copper, needed to make steel and electronic components.
But it has so far spent $220 million, falling short of its 2-year budget of around $800 million, due to weaker metals prices and instability of mining regulations in some countries, according to an official at the ministry.
"We will take our relationships with African countries to a new stage," Yoichi Miyazawa, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) told a news conference, after meeting with 16 African mining ministers in Tokyo to discuss ways to promote greater investment in Africa.
Japan plans to spend the remaining $1.78 billion in the next three years, by increasing contact and collaboration with African governments to push pending projects forward, Takahiro Hagiwara, a director of the Japan's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy said without elaborating.
While China's efforts to secure supplies of raw materials from Africa have raced ahead, Japan's campaign to secure resource supplies has dwindled, as slumping commodity prices and worries over political stability had made some companies reluctant to invest.
"China has pledged to invest a total of $6 billion in mining and infrastructure in our country," said Martin Kabwelulu Lablio, mining minister at the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"We want Japan to surpass this number... We welcome investment from both Japan and China," he said.
