Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat and Japanese Ambassador to Egypt OKA Hiroshi held the second meeting of the Egypt-Japan High-Level Policy Dialogue for development cooperation on Sunday. The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Egyptian and Japanese governments, as well as representatives from various multilateral and bilateral development partners. The two sides discussed the important achievements made in 2022/23, including the signing of the Exchange of Notes on the Greater Cairo Metro Line No.4 and E/N on the Development Policy Loan to support Universal Health Coverage. They also praised the Japanese government's provision of a grant for the project of "Enhancing Food Security through Improving Agricultural Productivity" to be implemented through the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Minister Al-Mashat welcomed the initiative taken by Ambassador Oka to hold the second High-Level Policy Dialogue and gave a review of policy development for the past year, including TICAD8 (8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development), COP27, New Plan for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), Prime Minister Kishida's visit to Egypt, G7 Hiroshima Summit, and the revision of Japan's Development Cooperation Charter. She then introduced concrete priority areas: "investment in people" in education and health sectors; "quality growth" through green transition and quality infrastructure development; and regional stability through trilateral cooperation and joint work with partner countries. Ambassador Oka also highlighted the importance of private sector mobilization with Japan's strength in technology and finance for the development of Egypt. KATO Ken, Chief Representative of JICA Egypt Office, explained JICA's cooperation with Egypt, focusing on thematic cooperation areas such as climate change action taking into account the NWFE initiative led by the Government of Egypt, as well as industrial development contributing to the growth and resilience of Egyptian domestic industries. ISEKI Yusuke, Resident Executive Officer, Regional Head for EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) of JBIC emphasized JBIC's interest in providing financial support to assist Japanese companies in expanding their business through direct investment in Egypt, and export to Egypt. JBIC will continue to strengthen the partnership between JBIC and the Government of Egypt, as represented by the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of International Cooperation in April 2023. SHIOKAWA Yuko, Director of JETRO Cairo, introduced JETRO's activities to promote Japanese investment in strategic industries in Egypt, including renewable energy, healthcare, and startups. The two sides stressed the importance of continuous and effective coordination between the two countries to continue on the path of success and for the ongoing projects to become important national projects implemented on the ground. They also stressed the continuation of efforts to strengthen joint cooperation relations and work together to prepare a strategy for joint cooperation between the two countries.
