Tokyo, May 26 (Jiji Press)--Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has expressed her eagerness to strengthen Japan-Africa relations during the Africa Day celebration dinner hosted by the diplomatic corps of African countries in Tokyo. "Japan continues to have faith in Africa's potential," she said Monday. "Together with all the distinguished guests today, Japan chooses to forge a path toward the future." Noting that the concept of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, a guiding principle of Japanese diplomacy, was proposed by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Kenya in 2016, Takaichi said, "We will never forget that fate connects this concept with Africa." Africa Day marks the establishment of the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union, on May 25, 1963. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]