Coinciding with our 70 Year Partnership: Ministry of Planning, Economic Development & International Cooperation Host a Egypt-Japan High-Level Policy Dialogue

Coinciding with our 70 Year Partnership:  Ministry of Planning, Economic Development & International Cooperation Host a Egypt-Japan High-Level Policy Dialogue

 

H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat: We are committed  to advancing the strategic partnership and economic development cooperation between Egypt and Japan.

Japanese Ambassador: High-level policy dialogue enhances development cooperation between the two countries.

JICA highlights the pillars of the partnership with Egypt in the field of comprehensive health insurance and implementation of “NWFE” program projects.

JBIC reviews its contributions to financing the private sector to implement renewable energy projects.

 

H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, held the annual Egypt-Japan High-Level Policy Dialogue, as part of efforts to advance relations between the two countries. This coincides with the 70th anniversary of the inauguration of bilateral relations, in continuation of a series of meetings with multilateral and bilateral development partners to set work priorities for the next phase.

 

The meeting was attended by Ambassador Oka Hiroshi, Japanese Ambassador to Egypt, Mr. Kato Kane, Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Mr. Kitamura Kenshiro, Chief Representative of the Middle East Representative Office of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), and Mr. Nishizawa Shijo, Managing Director of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Office. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Japanese Embassy and financial institutions, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representatives of the Ministries of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Communications and Information Technology, Water Resources and Irrigation, Health, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency, and Abu El-Rish Japanese Hospital.

 

Egyptian-Japanese Partnership Pillars

 

During the meeting, Al-Mashat reviewed the framework of cooperation between the two countries, stressing the importance of strengthening the strategic partnership between Egypt and Japan, which emphasizes a shared vision in line with Egypt's vision to achieve sustainable development. The high-level dialogue is an opportunity to strengthen the future partnership and move the joint relations to broader horizons.

 

Al-Mashat stressed that the ministry is keen to enhance  Egyptian-Japanese relations in line with the priorities of the current phase, referring to the upcoming visit H.E. scheduled to Japan, to continue discussions on the future cooperation strategy. The high-level visits over the past few years between the leaderships of the two countries constituted a turning point in relations, elevating them to the level of "strategic partnership", with a focus on priority areas including "investing in people" through the education and health sectors, green transformation projects and infrastructure development.

 

H.E. explained that the partnership between the two countries is a unique model of cooperation, as this partnership aims to enhance economic and social development, green transformation and renewable energy, education, human capital development, quality growth, in addition to infrastructure development, partnership with the private sector, technical cooperation projects to build capacities in various fields, enhance technical education and develop small and medium enterprises.

 

Human Capital Development

 

Al-Mashat presented the ongoing development cooperation portfolio between Egypt and Japan in various sectors, which is reflected in the efforts to implement the SDGs and is distributed across the various governorates of the republic, pointing out the importance of the projects already implemented, most notably the metro project, in addition to education projects and human capital development through Egyptian-Japanese schools, and the Abu El-Rish Hospital development project, which is one of the most prominent projects in the health sector, as it serves 90,000 patients annually for free, in addition to the Grand Egyptian Museum project.

 

Under renewable energy projects, Japanese institutions finance private sector companies that contribute to implementing the “NWFE” program projects, as the JICA  contributes to financing the 500-megawatt solar power plant in Kom Ombo, Aswan, and the JBIC  finances the project to build and operate a 500-megawatt wind power plant in Ras Ghareb.

 

Private Sector Financing Mechanisms

 

Al-Mashat stressed that empowering the private sector is a priority in Egyptian-Japanese relations by providing more financing mechanisms for private sector companies, and benefiting from the Hub for Advisory, Finance and Investment for Enterprises  platform for financial and technical support for the private sector, in addition to investing in localizing industry and developing human capital, and supporting digital entrepreneurship and scientific research applications.

 

H.E. pointed out the mechanisms for achieving integration between the Egyptian-Japanese partnership and Vision 2030, through expanding the scope of cooperation in capacity building efforts, education, equality and integration, and investing in human-centered development, in addition to skills development initiatives, vocational training, expanding the network of Japanese schools to 1,700 schools at the governorate level, benefiting from technical education, and establishing 62 technological and technical schools (within Egypt’s 2024-2025 and 2026-2027 plans).

 

Industry Localization

 

The Minister also clarified the areas of cooperation between Egypt and Japan regarding the localization of industry referring to the promotion of SMEs' participation in national projects to support the localization of industry, establishment of dedicated research and development centers and innovation incubators focusing on key industrial sectors such as renewable energy Natural Gas, Agriculture, Pharmaceuticals, Automotive, Electronics, and Participation of Suez Canal Economic Zone as well as strengthening domestic supply chains and manufacturing capacities under the importance they attach to empowering the private sector and increasing exports through the promotion of industry. H.E. also stressed the importance of increasing Japanese business and investments to benefit from the competitive economic opportunities offered by Egypt, as well as the importance of deepening the partnership with JICA and other financing institutions to stimulate private sector investments in priority areas.

 

Ambassador Oka thanked the initiative taken by Minister Al-Mashat to hold the third High-Level Policy Dialogue to further promote development partnership through synergizing Japan’s cooperation and Egypt’s national priorities, such as Agenda 2030, NWFE, and human capital development. The Ambassador appreciated significant achievement over the 70th years of development cooperation between Japan and Egypt which had contributed to the socio-economic development of Egypt as well as human talent development.

 

The Ambassador also expressed his expectation that the cooperation between the two countries will be carried out in a strategic manner, following the strategic partnership agreed by the leaders of both sides last year, including by starting new areas of cooperation in response to the rapid technological development and enhancing triangular cooperation for Africa and the Middle East, thanking in this regard valuable partnership with EAPD.

 

Mr. Kato Ken, Chief Representative of JICA Egypt Office, explained JICA’s cooperation towards Egypt, focusing on thematic cooperation areas such as Industry and Private Sector Development, Human Resources Development, Climate Change, Linking Innovative Research with Society Development through the joint research scheme called SATREPS, Universal Health Coverage, in line with Egypt’s national goals such as Localization of Industries, Human Capital Development, NWFE initiative.

 

Mr. Kitamura Kenichiro, Chief Representative for the Middle East Representative Office in Dubai of JBIC, highlighted JBIC financings to implement the NWFE program and presented the engagements and contributions of Japanese companies in the green energy sector in the Middle East, with the willingness to extend these achievements to Egypt and more to African countries through triangular cooperation.

 

Mr. Nishizawa Shigeyo, Managing Director of JETRO Cairo Office, explained their function that supports Japanese private companies operating in Egypt or seeking opportunities through the daily basis consultation, business missions on renewable energy and water infrastructure, Japan pavilion in the Africa Health ExCon, as well as the platform scheme for Japanese start-ups and Venture capitals.

 

During the meeting, participants from various ministries reviewed cooperation projects with the Japanese side and future plans to enhance the partnership between the two sides.