President Sisi invites Japanese companies to invest more in Egypt

CAIRO – 30 APRIL 2023: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi invited the government of Japan to encourage Japanese companies to inject more investments into Egypt.

 

The President’s invitation came during a joint press conference with the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Cairo on Sunday. Kishida and his accompanying delegation are visiting Egypt amid a tour in a number of African countries. The tour comes ahead of the G7 Hiroshima Summit that will be hosted in the Japanese city next month, under the chairmanship of Japan, President Sisi said during his welcoming speech at the conference.

President Sisi added that the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit is also his first to Egypt since assuming his post, and thus reflecting mutual interest, between Egypt and Japan, to build on their historical friendship relations, at both the official and popular levels.

President Sisi expressed Egypt’s immense appreciation for Japan’s sincere engagement in and contributions to the development process and national projects in Egypt, including the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is considered the world’s largest archeological museum, displaying artifacts dedicated to one civilization.

“We look forward for His Excellency, the Prime Minister of Japan, to be with us at its inauguration. Other projects include the Egyptian-Japanese schools project, due to see the light in September 2028, which envisages the application in Egyptian schools of Tokkatsu, the Japanese Educational Model of Holistic Education.  This is, in addition to numerous projects, which manifest the friendship between the two countries, including the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, E-Just, in Borg Al Arab, which is a successful model of the trilateral cooperation between Japan, Egypt and the African brothers,” the President said.

President Sisi added that the meeting tackled the economic, legislative and structural reforms adopted as part of efforts toward creating a conducive business environment and improving the investment climate in Egypt over the past years. This is, in addition to the incentives and guarantees ensured by the Egyptian law for investors, as well as the promising investment opportunities offered in Egypt in various fields, the President added.

The Egyptian President also revealed that the meeting touched challenges on the international scene, primarily the enormous economic repercussions of the Ukrainian crisis on developing countries, which exceeded those caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, in terms of the rise in inflation rates and energy and food prices, in addition to expectations of a slowdown in growth rates.

“I confirmed to the Prime Minister of Japan our aspirations for the development partners, particularly Japan being a leading country in its contributions to international development and in its capacity as current Chair of the Group of Seven Industrialized Countries, the G7, to work on giving these urgent economic challenges the same attention as the political and security aspects of the Ukrainian crisis. We hope a settlement will be reached through exploring ways to mitigate the exceptional challenges facing a number of developing countries,” President Sisi continued.

Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, said that he discussed with President El-Sisi a number of regional and international issues of interest, stressing that Egypt plays an important role in ensuring security and stability in the Middle East and Africa.

On the situation in Sudan, the Japanese Prime Minister added that he and President Sisi agreed on the need to resume the process of transferring power, expressing his country's readiness to provide urgent assistance to the displaced from Sudan to neighboring countries.

Both leaders also tackled other regional files, particularly the Palestinian issue, the situation in Libya and developments in Sudan, which occupied an important part of our talks.

“I emphasized to His Excellency, the Prime Minister, Egypt’s vision that is based on the need for an immediate, permanent and comprehensive ceasefire in Sudan, and the importance for any external party to refrain from interfering in the crisis, which is a purely Sudanese matter, confirming that this will facilitate defusing the conflict and preventing its exacerbation,” President Sisi said.

During a bilateral summit took place ahead of the joint press conference, both leaders agreed to upgrade their relations to the level of strategic partnership between both countries.

At the summit talks, the two sides focused on ways to foster closer bilateral cooperation between the two countries, particularly in the fields of investment, trade, education, health, information technology, transport, and renewable energy, as well as the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is a milestone in the fruitful development cooperation between the two countries, said Presidential Spokesperson Ahmed Fahmy in a statement.

The talks also touched on ongoing efforts to preserve and consolidate peace and security at the international level. The two sides exchanged views on a multitude of issues, including the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, strengthening multilateral diplomatic action and reforming the United Nations and the Security Council’s system.

The discussions also covered developments in a number of regional issues, particularly the Palestinian cause and the Renaissance Dam.

On Sudan, the two sides were aligned with regard to the need to achieve and firm-up the ceasefire, push forward efforts toward political dialogue and complete the transitional phase. The Japanese Prime Minister valued Egypt's assistance in evacuating Japanese nationals from Sudan, and expressed sincere condolences to the government and people of Egypt over the death of the member of the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Khartoum, who was martyred in the course of his duty.

After their talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing ceremony of a number of memoranda of understanding ( MoUs) and agreements between Egypt and Japan in the sectors of communications and information technology, legal and judicial affairs, Cairo Metro Line 4- Phase 1, as well as the partnership between the Ministry of International Cooperation and Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The signing ceremony was followed by a joint press conference.