Japan’s official position was reaffirmed at the opening of the ministerial meeting held ahead of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7), to take place in Yokohama on 28-30 August.

"I would like to reaffirm that the presence in the 7th TICAD Summit of any entity that Japan does not recognize as a state does not affect the country's position on the status of this entity," the Japanese top-diplomat pointed out.

The ministerial meeting was attended by Morocco's Minister Delegate for African Cooperation, Mohcine Jazouli.

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) is an international conference led by the Japanese government and co-sponsored by the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the African Union Commission (AUC) and the World Bank.