Japan awaits President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi's confirmation for future visits

Our meeting with Egyptian President discussed ways to develop joint cooperation in coming period, says EJBC chairperson

A Japanese business mission met with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on Monday where the Japanese side invited him to visit Japan in June and August 2019, Ibrahim El-Araby, the chairperson of the Egypt-Japan Business Council (EJBC), said over his speech at the 11th Joint Conference of the Japan-Egypt and Egypt Japan Business Councils and the Japan-Egypt Investment Forum which was held on Monday.
"Our meeting with the Egyptian President discussed ways to develop the joint cooperation in the coming period," El-Araby noted, pointing out that Japan will organise the Tokyo International Conference on Africa (TICAD7) and looks forward to Egypt's President's approval for participation.
Egypt is moving toward modern technology, he mentioned, noting that the EJBC is ready to facilitate and remove obstacles that face Japanese companies as well as exchange knowledge sharing activities with Japan.
The EJBC looks forward to more Japanese investments in Egypt, he affirmed, noting that Japan will boost cooperation with Africa and Egypt based on the earlier achieved success.
For his part, the ambassador of Japan to Egypt, Masaki Noke, said that his country looks forward to the Egyptian President's couple of visits in 2019, affirming the importance of promoting the joint ties with Egypt.
"Egypt returned to the tracks of stability. Since 2015, we witnessed the development of Japan's interest in this country," he mentioned, adding that Egypt is situated in a meeting point of three continents.
Cooperation with Egypt is huge including education, antiquities, and energy among others, the ambassador pointed out, noting that the Grand Egyptian Museum is a big project that will be opened next year to restore Egyptian antiquities.
However, the ambassador said that Japanese companies are still facing several challenges in working in Egypt, for example administrative procedures as well as car manufacturing difficulties after the Free Trade Egypt agreement with the EU.
"Policies need to be facilitated. We discussed that with President Al-Sisi to implement Japanese companies' desire to boost cars' investments in Egypt," the ambassador said.
Notably, Egypt and Japan signed several MoUs over the event to boost joint cooperation.
The Japanese business mission began a visit to Egypt from Sunday 10 March until Tuesday 12 March.
The delegation represents about 50 Japanese companies from the sectors of automotive; steel; banking sector; insurance; information and communication technology; logistics; manufacturing, as well as construction among others.