Sisi leaves for Japan to attend 2019 G20 summit

CAIRO - 26 June 2019: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi headed on Wednesday to Japan to participate in the 2019 G20 summit that will be held in Osaka on June 28-29.

Japanese Ambassador to Egypt Masaki Noke said that the G20 summit discusses trade, digital economy and innovation, and will host sideline meetings between state leaders of China, United States, Japan and European Union. Among the attending leaders will be US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

During a press conference this week, Ambassador Noke highlighted the importance of President Sisi’s participation in G20 as the chair of African Union (AU), and representing 50 African states, and reflecting their voice in the summit.

“Egypt, by participating in the summit, will be able to provide an important model in education, and Egypt’s vision in human resources in African and Middle East,” he added.

Noke further noted that the summit represents an important opportunity to discuss ways of enhancing freedom of world trade.

“Egypt seeks effective participation in this summit. It will discuss a number of important issues between Egypt and Japan,” Minister of Trade Amr Nassar previously said during his meeting with Ambassador Noke, adding “It [Egypt] will also review its development experience of comprehensive economic reform and its vision of ways to strengthen international efforts for promoting the African continent.”

The trade volume between Egypt and Japan increased by 30.5 percent over the last year, reaching about $1.26 billion, compared to $969 million in 2017, according to Nassar.

President Sisi visited Japan for the first time in March 2016, where Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced economic assistance, including a ¥2 trillion business project with Japanese companies. Both countries also announced launching an education partnership, under which Japan will receive 2,500 Egyptian students during the next five years.

This summit is the fourteenth meeting of Group of Twenty (G20), and is the first to be hosted in Japan. Founded in 1999, the G20 is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union (EU), seeking to discuss promotion of international financial stability.

Osaka is a large port city and commercial center on the Japanese island of Honshu.