● Al-Mashat thanks Hideki Matsunaga, whose term ends this month, for the fruitful cooperation throughout the past period.
● Al-Mashat stresses the importance of joint Egyptian-Japanese relations and discusses with JICA efforts to enhance the private sector’s participation in development through the Hafiz platform.
The Minister of International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, welcomed the new Director General of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the Middle East and Europe, Kei Toyama, as he began assuming his duties.
During the meeting, the two parties followed up on the ongoing development cooperation portfolio in the presence of the former director Hideki Matsunaga. Al-Mashat also thanked Matsunaga for the fruitful cooperation throughout the past period.
During the meeting, Al-Mashat expressed her appreciation for the ongoing cooperation with the Japanese side and the role played by JICA in supporting national development efforts and priorities.
H.E. explained that the annual report of the Ministry of International Cooperation for the year 2023 titled “Platforms for Policy and Practice,” reflecting the volume and diversity of ongoing cooperation with Japan in many sectors.
Al-Mashat also referred to the launch of the Private Sector Portal: Hub for Advisory Finance and Investment For Enterprises, which is the first integrated platform that includes all financial and non-financial services provided by development partners to the private sector, whether large, medium, small, or emerging companies. The support provided by JICA provides the platform to be available to various companies.
Al-Mashat stated that the ongoing development cooperation portfolio with JICA includes many projects that should be highlighted as successful models of joint cooperation between Egypt and Japan, and reflects the two countries’ keenness to enhance joint economic cooperation, referring to the recent visit of the Japanese Prime Minister to Cairo, which marked a turning point in bilateral relations between the two countries through the agreement to raise relations between the two countries to the level of a strategic partnership, as a culmination of the long and rich process of joint cooperation.
Japan is one of the most important Asian development partners for Egypt, as the development cooperation portfolio includes more than 18 development projects in support of the government’s plan to achieve the SDGs, with a value of approximately $3.9 billion, from 2010 until now. Additionally, many development grants were secured in the fields of health, education, energy, electricity, transportation, civil aviation, tourism, antiquities, irrigation, and education, in a way that supports sustainable economic growth, social inclusion, education development, human resources development, regional cooperation, and support of the national strategy to combat climate change.
During the current year, an annual high-level policy dialogue was held between the Egyptian and Japanese sides at the headquarters of the Ministry of International Cooperation, to discuss proposals for future cooperation and technical cooperation, in line with the development pillars and Egypt’s Vision 2030, in light of the role played by the Ministry of International Cooperation to coordinate between the government and multilateral and bilateral development partners.
More information about Egyptian-Japanese cooperation in the 2023 annual report