Africa: Japan underscores need to invest in Africa

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has stressed need to increase international investment in Africa with the primary aim of ensuring peace and security in the impoverished continent. He also promised to increase Japan's cooperation with Africa. Fukuda said this when officially opening a three-day high level Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama where African and Japanese leaders are conferring on how to reach internationally agreed anti-poverty target goals - the so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - by 2015.