CAIRO: Minister of International cooperation Fayza Aboulnaga and Japanese Ambassador Kaoru Ishikawa signed an agreement Monday at the ministry to grant aid worth LE 40 million to begin modernizing an Agricultural Mechanization Center in Damanhour, in the governorate of Beheira. Japan also put up the initial LE 2.5 million for the detailed designs of the project. Work on the project, which aims to accommodate 1,000 trainees a year at the training and maintenance center, is due to start in October. Aboulnaga said, "The Egyptian cabinet has created a vocational strategy to focus on training, given by the ministries of education and higher education. She expressed the government's appreciation for the Japanese aid program which encompasses the food production, agricultural and water treatment sectors in Egypt. This is because these are low-return projects, which makes loan-based funding them through difficult. Japanese aid to Egypt since 1973 has totaled more than $1.3 billion, from which the new Cairo Opera House, the Suez Canal Bridge and the Children's Hospital in Abul Rish were built. Japanese loans, however, have totaled almost $3.8 billion since 1974. Future projects in the works involving both countries include a Japanese-Egyptian university for science and technology which will also be funded by Japanese grants. Ishikawa said, "I believe in the Egyptian farmer, and I believe in Egyptian farming and the future of Egypt. "Japan will continue to cooperate with Egypt in various sectors to achieve economic and social development. And the life of the simple Egyptian citizen will remain of vital importance in this regard, he added. Aboulnaga was adamant to highlight the type of projects for which aid was received was decided by Egypt. "Cooperation with Japan or any country stems from Egypt's priority agenda, the minister said. "Our role in the ministry [of International Cooperation] is to coordinate between the foreign backers and the relevant ministry. We also follow up on the project to see if further help is needed. For his part Ishikawa joked, "Yes, we have conditions, but these are conditions to realize our solidarity. [The process] is transparent, we have no hidden agenda. Ishikawa also offered some advice from his country's experience and painful past when explaining the importance of vocational training. "In Japan, we lost everything 60 years ago, it was a total defeat. The first thing we did after it was to build schools, he said, "the key to success in my country was on-the-job training. Company leaders and managers took care of training their employees. Another area Egypt and Japan wish to cooperate on is the removal of landmines in the western part of the North Coast. These landmines are the legacy of World War II and the battle of Alamein. "Concerning landmine removal in the western North Coast, we have cleaned Cambodia, de-mined the area, and we can do the same in Egypt, Ishikawa said. Aboulnaga alluded to the fact that Japan was responsible for removing the landmines in Egypt, since it was one of the countries to lay them there in the first place. "Twenty-two percent of the land mass in the North Coast can't be developed because of the landmines. Japan is one of the countries that placed the mines along with England, Germany and Italy and we feel these countries should shoulder the responsibility of removing them, she said.
