Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said Monday that Egypt is looking forward to boosting relations with Japan. In his speech to the Japanese Parliament, Al-Sisi said economic cooperation with Japan is ongoing since it is executing several projects in the Suez Canal area as well as reclamation of an area of 1.5m acres project. Al-Sisi also praised Japan's collaboration in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) projects owing to the number of job opportunities it provides. Egypt welcomes Japanese investment and has taken several measures to facilitate foreign investment by introducing new laws and solving energy problems, Al-Sisi said. Egypt has made efforts to address terrorism not only by military means but also with educational reform and by improving the economic situation and Japan's experience in developing their education system. Regarding Egypt's foreign policy in the Middle East, Al-Sisi said the nation is pushing for implementation of political processes in Yemen, Syria, and Libya. Japanese Parliament speaker Tadamori Oshima congratulated Egypt on the new Parliament, with whom Japan aims to cooperate. He said Egyptian-Japanese relations have improved over the past few years, pointing to Egypt as the keystone of the Middle East. In his meeting with Al-Sisi, head of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Shinichi Kitaoka highlighted the agency's activities in Egypt, such as providing aid to Egypt on several occasions, Cairo's metro project in particular. Al-Sisi said he is eager for Egypt to benefit from Japan's education sector. Kitaoka said JICA is ready to cooperate with Egypt in the education sector and in other sectors. Both agreed that Japan will provide Egypt with loans to improve Borg Al-Arab airport and to launch new electricity stations. Japan is ready to cooperate with Egypt in the field of climate change and the renewable energy, Kitaoka said.
