On November 13, 2025, Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), paid a courtesy visit to the Nippon Foundation and exchanged views with its Honorary Chairman, Yohei Sasakawa. The meeting was also attended by AfDB Executive Director Tomoki Nakai, The Nippon Foundation Executive Director Ichiro Kabasawa, and, Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) President Shuichi Suzuki.

Evaluating Agricultural Cooperation Projects and Showing Enthusiasm for Scaling Up
During the meeting, opinions were exchanged on the joint agricultural projects currently underway in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Benin and Uganda.

President Tah highly praised these initiatives as a “great success” and expressed strong interest in expanding them to other countries. Honorary Chairman Sasakawa spoke about the significance of the extension officer network developed by SAA and its 40 years of field-focused activities, confirming the importance of tripartite cooperation among the three parties.

Deepening the MOU and Considering a Concrete Action Plan
President Tah agreed on the need to strengthen the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the AfDB and SAA in 2016 and to work on a concrete action plan for future collaboration.

This courtesy visit served as a significant opportunity to strengthen cooperation between The Nippon Foundation, the AfDB, and SAA in agricultural development and human resource development in Africa. SAA will continue to contribute to sustainable agricultural development across Africa in collaboration with The Nippon Foundation and the AfDB.