Ashraf AboArafe
Abdel-Ati: The Egyptian state has come a long way in providing a supportive infrastructure for the development of information technology
Within the framework of strengthening bilateral relations between Egypt and Japan in connection with raising the strategic relations between the two countries to the level of “strategic partnership”, Dr. Badr Abdel-Ati, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs, met with Mr. “Kono Taro”, Japanese Minister of Digitization during a working dinner on the sidelines of his presence in Tokyo to participate in the TICAD Ministerial Meeting.
Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, stated that the meeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs with the Japanese official aimed to advance all areas of bilateral cooperation between the Egyptian and Japanese sides, and enhance Egypt’s benefit from Japanese expertise and its pioneering role in the field of digitization, communications and information technology. In this context, Dr. Abdel-Ati reviewed the relevant Egyptian efforts, noting that the Egyptian state has come a long way to provide a supportive infrastructure for the development of information technology and attracting investments in this vital and important field.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed the importance of reflecting the strategic partnership between Egypt and Japan in all areas of cooperation between the two friendly countries, specifically mentioning cooperation in the field of start-ups as the locomotive of global economies, including companies operating in the field of information technology. He also stressed that cooperation and exchange of expertise in this important field would unleash the latent potential of the Egyptian and Japanese start-up sector and open unprecedented horizons for cooperation between the two sides. He expressed Egypt’s readiness to launch various institutional cooperation mechanisms for this purpose, with the aim of achieving mutual benefit for both sides.
The official spokesman added that Dr. Abdel-Ati expressed Egypt’s aspiration to cooperate with Japan in the field of artificial intelligence, in its various organizational, technical and applied aspects, through mutual coordination regarding the code of conduct and regulatory rules being formulated to govern artificial intelligence, stressing the importance of having an ethical framework for these uses and preventing their use for destructive purposes.
For his part, the Japanese Minister expressed his appreciation for the positive and distinguished path of Egyptian-Japanese relations over the past years, and was keen to listen to the Foreign Minister’s assessment of the developments in the region and the Egyptian mediation efforts to cease fire and defuse the crisis, in order to avoid expanding the scope of the conflict in the region, noting the Japanese side’s appreciation for Egypt’s pivotal role in the region as a pillar of peace and stability in the Middle East. He also pointed out that the Arab-Japanese dialogue is gaining special importance at the present time in light of the successive developments witnessed by the region.
