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From 6 July 2006, a graphic version of the current edition is available at the Daily News Online web site.

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Speaking at the summit of the Tokyo International Conference on Africas Development (TICAD), Vice President Merafhe said it was Japans policies toward human resources development and work ethic that brought success to the Asian nation.

He added that Africa envied the japanese success.

General Merafhe said this was why at the Asian-African summit in Indonesia in 2005, leaders advocated the launch of the African-Japan strategic productivity partnership.

He said some countries, including Botswana, had benefited from this initiative, with 30 Batswana benefiting from the partnerships productivity improvement programmes.

He added that there had been an improvement in the productivity of some small and medium enterprises under these technical cooperation programmes; although few enterprises were involved, they serve as good models of the tangible results that could be achieved through cooperation with Japan.

He said small and medium enterprises were crucial to Africas development but they remained inefficient in terms of productivity levels, which according Vice President Merafhe, were below those of other developing countries in other regions of the world.

He said productivity reform movements in Africa needed to increase their momentum. He said the Local Enterprise Agency (LEA) was formed to improve service delivery programmes for small and medium enterprises by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

As a result, the small and medium enterprises were changing their way of doing business.

The remarkable efforts of the Japan Productivity Centre and the Asian Productivity Organisation to support and nurture small and medium enterprises in different African countries therefore cannot be acknowledged enough.

General Merafhe said he appreciated the trust and confidence that members of the Pan African Productivity Association (PAPA) have bestowed on Botswana by electing the country to the presidency of the association.

He said it was because of the good work done by PAPA that there was widespread recognition of the need for productivity reforms in Africa and that both the public and private sector reforms began to take effect.

I have no doubt that if we can manifest reforms in our economic development programmes, Africas growth rates would meet the seven per cent target required to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, he said.

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