Leaders and representatives from 52 African countries and development partners started their three-day discussions in Yokohama on Wednesday on a sustained growth and long-term development for the African continent.

They will focus their topics on boosting economic growth, ensuring human security and addressing environment and climate change issues in Africa at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) which opened at Japan 's third largest city Yokohama Wednesday morning.

"What we are about to do now is to open a new stage, titled the "century of African growth," said Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in his opening speech at the meeting.

Fukuda said Africa will become a powerful engine "driving the growth of the world".

In a keynote speech, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania and Chaiperson of the African Union, called for more assistance for Africa's development.

Expressing welcome to Japan's aid for Africa, he urged the Asian donor to promise a balanced assistance to a broader range of countries in the continent.

On the climate change issue, Kikwete noted that "Africa, which contribute least to the global warming phenomenon, bears far more than its fair share of the direct and indirect consequences thereof."

He called for a practical mechanism to follow-on from the Kyoto Protocol and requested Japan to provide fund to address the issue.