Toyota Tsusho Corporation ("Toyota Tsusho") announced today that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on industrial human resource development in Senegal with the government of the Republic of Senegal, the Vocational and Technical Training Center Senegal-Japan, the Japan International Cooperation Agency ("JICA), Daikin Industries ("Daikin"), Ltd., NEC Corporation ("NEC"), Toda Corporation ("Toda"), and Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd ("Yamaha").

In conjunction with the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9), which is currently underway in Yokohama, a signing ceremony was held today by President Faye of Senegal and representatives from each company.

(Front row, from left) Fall, Minister of Health of Senegal, Imai, President and CEO of Toyota Tsusho,
(Back row, from left) Yagi, General Manager of the Yamaha; Ando, Executive Director of JICA;
Tanaka, Vice President of NEC; President Faye of Senegal; Otani, President of Toda;
Omori, General Manager of Daikin; Akamatsu, Ambassador of Japan in Senegal

The Vocational and Technical Training Center Senegal-Japan is a national vocational training school in Senegal established in 1984 with support from JICA. In the more than 40 years since then, the Center has played a central role in vocational training in western Africa.

In recent years, as Senegal's economy has developed, industrial human resource needs have become more advanced and diverse, and as Japanese companies including Toyota Tsusho develop business in the region, development and acquisition of high-level human resources has become a shared issue. As a result, the Center is being called on to develop human resources suited for market and industry needs.

In light of this background, the MOU is intended to contribute to industrial human resource development by having Toyota Tsusho serve as the initiator and, with cooperation from the government of Senegal, provide technical education at the Center in line with the business fields of the four other companies, which are in agreement with this initiative.

The main provisions of the MOU are as follows.

(1) The government of Senegal will provide institutional and operational support.
(2) The Vocational and Technical Training Center Senegal-Japan will reinforce collaboration with participating companies and organizations.
(3) JICA will support coordination between Japan and Senegal.
(4) The participating companies will provide educational programs based on their area of specialization.

Toyota Tsusho will lead inter-company collaboration and provide programs in its areas of specialization to support the sustainable development of local industry.

At TICAD 9, which is scheduled to open in Yokohama on August 20, the Toyota Tsusho Group will contribute to promoting business initiatives that help solve Africa's social issues with "for the future children of Africa" as its key message.