Ashraf AboArafe
Dr. Badr Abdel Aati, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Egyptians Abroad, met with Mr. Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, today, August 23, during his current visit to Japan to participate in the ministerial meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), which is being held in the Japanese capital, Tokyo.
In a statement by Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, he indicated that Dr. Abdel Aati conveyed to the Prime Minister the greetings of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his appreciation for the role played by “Kishida” in raising relations between the two countries to the level of strategic partnership, delivering a message from His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi regarding ways to enhance bilateral relations, follow up on existing areas of cooperation, and work on the aspirations of the friendly Egyptian and Japanese peoples.
Dr. Abdel-Ati highlighted the distinguished bilateral relations between Egypt and Japan, expressing Egypt’s appreciation for the successful visit of the Japanese Prime Minister in April 2023, during which relations between the two countries were upgraded to the level of “strategic partnership”, praising Japan’s continued support for important development projects in Egypt, most notably the Grand Egyptian Museum and the partnership between the two countries in the field of education, stressing in this regard Egypt’s keenness to expand areas of cooperation by adding new areas of interest, such as artificial intelligence, governance, and cooperation between institutions and research centers to exchange and transfer expertise, in addition to enhancing Japanese tourism to Egypt.
For his part, the Japanese Prime Minister was keen to convey his greetings to His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his pioneering role in various regional issues and international forums, noting that Egypt is a very important partner for Japan as a major regional country that plays a pivotal and important role in the Middle East region.
On the level of economic cooperation between the two countries, the Minister of Foreign Affairs noted Egypt’s keenness to advance economic and trade relations in line with upgrading political relations, pointing to the importance of enhancing the flow of Japanese investments to the Egyptian market, and Egypt’s success in attracting many investments despite regional and global economic challenges and the tense conditions in its regional environment, citing the outcomes of the Egyptian/European Investment Conference. In this regard, Dr. Abdel Aati stressed Egypt’s keenness to open new areas for joint economic cooperation, especially those related to climate change, and expressed his aspiration for Japanese companies to benefit from the Egyptian green hydrogen strategy that was approved during the current month of August, reviewing the advantages provided by Egypt, represented by its strategic geographical location, multiple investment incentives, in addition to the huge and unprecedented boom that Egypt has witnessed in its infrastructure in recent years, and encouraged Japanese companies to be present in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. The official spokesman added that the Japanese Prime Minister was keen during the meeting to listen to Dr. Abdel-Ati’s assessment of the most important regional issues of common interest, most notably the ongoing war in Gaza, where the Foreign Minister reviewed the Egyptian efforts on various tracks to resume negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement and the implementation of humanitarian aid to the brotherly Palestinian people, stressing Egypt’s firm position in rejecting the policies of escalation, assassinations and violation of the sovereignty of states pursued by Israel. For his part, Kishida indicated that his country is following with deep concern the developments in the region, and believes that the continuation of the escalation will not serve anyone’s interest, expressing his country’s support for the Egyptian efforts aimed at reducing the escalation, and pointing out that his country is working in parallel to continue delivering aid to Gaza. The two sides also exchanged views and assessments on a number of other regional issues, including the situation in Sudan and the Horn of Africa region and the threats facing the security of the Red Sea and the safety of international navigation, where the Minister of Foreign Affairs noted that the continuation of these crises without the international community being able to find solutions to them leads to their exacerbation, which affects the interests of a large number of countries, including Egypt and Japan, which calls for concerted diplomatic efforts to prevent the exacerbation of these crises. The official spokesman concluded his statements by pointing out that Dr. Abdel Aati expressed the Egyptian side’s aspiration for the current ministerial meetings of the “TICAD” mechanism to result in in-depth discussions on topics of common interest between Japan and Africa, foremost of which are economic and development issues that are a priority for African countries, and stressed Egypt’s keenness to participate effectively in all activities related to TICAD over the past years, believing in the importance of this important forum and the pioneering role played by Japan in strengthening economic relations with African countries and supporting their development efforts to achieve prosperity for their peoples.
The Japanese Prime Minister also expressed his country’s aspiration for the official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, as this important cultural and civilizational edifice represents a distinguished model of cooperation between Egypt and Japan.
