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Johannesburg, South Africa— Satoshi Tsunakawa, President and Chief Operating Officer of Toshiba Corporation, joined political leaders and other representatives of business and industry, from Africa and Japan, for the Japan-Africa Public-Private Economic Forum, held in the Republic of South Africa over May 3 & 4, 2018.

Initiated by Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, at the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) in 2016, the forum provided a welcome mechanism for promoting discussions between Japanese companies and African companies on cooperation and collaboration in the energy and infrastructure sectors, trade, investment and finance, and capacity building.

The event drew over 2,000 participants, included Dr. Rob Davies, the South African Minister of Trade and Industry and Hiroshige Seko, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, plus government officials, international organizations, and representatives of about 100 Japanese and 400 African companies.

In the forum’s plenary session, Mr. Tsunakawa gave a very well received speech that looked at how Toshiba has developed business in Africa since opening a representative office in South Africa in 1967, including recent activities in hydro and geothermal power plants. He then turned to the challenges Africa faced and how to overcome them, and the contributions Toshiba can make with such technologies as the SCiB™ rechargeable lithium-ion battery and H2One™, a hydrogen-based autonomous energy supply system. He also outlined how Toshiba could provide technical support and how it helps to promote human resource capacity building.

Putting the goals of the forum into practice, Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (hereinafter “Toshiba ESS”) not only exhibited its capabilities in the accompanying expo, it also concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government of Malawi covering development of geothermal resources.

In addition, Toshiba ESS and VINCI Construction, a major global player in civil engineering design and construction, concluded a MOU on exploring opportunities for cooperation in the construction of hydro and geothermal plants in Africa.   Toshiba ESS also concluded a General Cooperation Agreement to supply wellhead geothermal power generation systems with RentCo East Africa Limited, a major financial leasing company in Kenya and the wider Sub Saharan Africa.

In recent years, Toshiba ESS has installed geothermal power generation systems at Olkaria, Kenya’s largest geothermal power plant, and concluded MOUs on geothermal power generation with Tanzania, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda and Malawi. The MOUs anticipate comprehensive partnerships in geothermal power projects, including comprehensive training in the technology.

Toshiba Group will continue to contribute to the energy sector in Africa, and to actively promote technology and human resources development in the region.