[Title] Chair's Summary (The TICAD V Preparatory Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM))

The TICAD V Preparatory Senior Officials' Meeting was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from November 15 to 17, 2012, in order to advance preparation for TICAD V, which will be held from June 1 to 3 in Yokohama, Japan.

The Meeting was attended by delegations of African countries and TICAD co-organizers, namely the Government of Japan, the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, together with representatives of other partner countries, international and regional organizations, and civil society organizations.

The Meeting was chaired by H.E. Mr. Yoshifumi Okamura, Ambassador, Personal Representative of the Prime Minister for Africa and Director-General for African Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and H.E. Mr. Eric Y. Tiare, General Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation of Burkina Faso. The break-out sessions were chaired by TICAD co-organizers, namely the World Bank, UNDP and AUC/UNOSAA respectively.

The Participants of the meeting welcomed the progress made since the inception of TICAD in 1993 and were pleased to witness the extensive benefits brought by the TICAD process to all the people living in Africa. The Participants expressed their firm determination to work closely together to ensure the success of TICAD V.

The Participants discussed issues to be addressed at TICAD V as well as outcome documents of TICAD V, taking note of the communiqué adopted at the Fourth TICAD Ministerial Follow-up meeting in Marrakech, the Kingdom of Morocco in May, 2012. They also had a dialogue with civil society organizations.

The Participants expressed their sincere gratitude to the Government and people of Burkina Faso for their warm hospitality throughout the meeting.

Outcome of SOM

1. The basic concept of TICAD V developed by TICAD co-organizers was presented and the Participants had an in-depth discussion on the expected outcome to be achieved at TICAD V. The Participants commended that African countries have achieved remarkable economic and social development with dynamism. The Participants also stressed that despite the positive trends emerging, African countries are faced with various development challenges, including growing economic disparity and insufficient progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

2. In order to address those challenges and promote Africa's current and future dynamism, the Participants reiterated that TICAD V should aim to improve the quality of growth while placing renewed emphasis on boosting economic growth as agreed at the Fourth TICAD Ministerial Follow-up Meeting in May 2012 in Marrakech, Morocco.

3. The Participants expressed that the basic concept of TICAD V, which consists of three themes, namely "Robust and Sustainable Economy", "Inclusive and Resilient Society", "Peace and Stability" is comprehensive and that it captures inter-related aspects of development agenda which African countries need to tackle. Three break-out sessions were held based on the three themes and each session was chaired by the World Bank, UNDP and AUC/UNOSAA respectively. The outcome of the vigorous discussion at the break-out sessions is attached to this Chair's Summary.

4. It was reaffirmed that TICAD V should place more emphasis on the twin principles of African ownership and international partnership, which the TICAD process has advocated from its inception. In particular, the Participants highlighted the need to give more visibility and support to African initiatives that are closely aligned to the three themes of TICAD V.

5. The Participants acknowledged that TICAD V would provide an excellent opportunity to exhibit their leaderships in accelerating the achievement of the MDGs and formulating the post-2015 development agenda by creating synergy between the new framework and the development agenda of TICAD V.

6. Dialogue with civil society organizations was held on the sidelines of the TICAD V Preparatory Senior Officials' Meeting. The Participants acknowledged that the invaluable input and feedbacks from civil society organizations contributed to fruitful discussion at the Meeting. The Participants reiterated the importance of strengthening partnership through dialogue with the private sector and civil society in the TICAD process.

Next Steps towards TICAD V

7. The Participants agreed to produce the Action Plan in line with the Declaration to provide a concrete roadmap for the support of African growth and development under the TICAD process. In this regard, the Chair requested the Participants to submit their specific actions for TICAD V to be included in the Action Plan. Furthermore, it was emphasized that specific measures or initiatives by African countries should also be included in the Action Plan in light of further enhancing African ownership of its development agenda. Invaluable inputs from SOM will be reflected on the draft of the Declaration and the Action Plan. The co-organizers' drafting committee will be held sometime early next year to further advance the drafting process.

8. The Participants agreed to work closely towards the Ministerial Preparatory Meeting in Ethiopia on March 16th-17th as well as TICAD V.

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