Under the theme of "Toward a Vibrant Africa: A Continent of Hope and Opportunity", the conference is co-organized by the Government of Japan, the United Nations Office of the Special Advisor on Africa, the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank.

Participants at the meeting are expected to work out the guiding principles and approaches to African development and a road-map for action-oriented initiatives with measurable targets.

The World Bank said African countries have achieved remarkable progress in recent years in economic growth and peace and stability through its own efforts and international cooperation, showing a promising a prosperous future.

However, the region is still facing a number of serious problems and challenges such as poverty, food shortages, infectious diseases that need to be addressed by the world community to ensure the realization of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

Developed partners are called for more assistance to the region. Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda pledged in his speech that over the next five years, Japan will proactively and flexibly provide up to 4 billion dollars of soft loans as well as other aid to Africa.

As an interlink, the results from the meeting are expected to be fed into the G-8 summit to be held at Japan's Hokkaido on July 7-9.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (R) shakes hands with Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete during a bilateral meeting ahead of the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) in Yokohama, Japan, May 27, 2008. (Xinhua/pool)