Japan is flexing its diplomatic and commercial muscle in Africa, seeking commodities and new markets in an effort to catch up with other nations, including China, that have poured billions of dollars into the region in recent years.

Shinzo Abe is leading the first visit by a Japanese prime minister to sub-Saharan Africa in eight years this week to support “Japanese companies’ investments to secure important natural resources” in the region, Tokyo said. The top Japanese trading houses, or sogo shosha, have already started to pour billions of dollars into projects including Mitsui’s in Mozambique to produce liquefied natural gas. Sumitomo and Mitsubishi are also targeting the region.

David Shinn, professor of international relations at George Washington University and a former US ambassador to several African countries, said the trip was a “belated recognition” that Japan was “falling behind a number of rising countries in Africa”, including China, India, Brazil, South Korea and Turkey.