At the Tokyo International Conference on African Development held May 28–30, African leaders met with development partners from Japan and other countries who agreed to help Africa improve efforts to fight AIDS and other diseases, as well as the continent’s agriculture and education systems, Japan Economic Newswire/TMCnet reports (tmcnet.com, 5/30).

According to the article, the African leaders agreed that to alleviate food shortages, Africa should double its rice production over the next decade and expand its irrigated land by 20 percent.

The conference’s 51 participating countries, donors and international organizations adopted the Yokohama Declaration and Yokohama Action Plan to boost economic growth, address environmental concerns and alleviate health and social problems through immediate and long-term intervention and cooperation in Africa.