Sisi, Abe discuss bilateral relations, Japan-Africa cooperation on sidelines of TICAD summit
Ahram Online, , Wednesday 28 Aug 2019


Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Wednesday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) to discuss enhancing cooperation between Egypt and Japan.

"Abe voiced great admiration for ancient Egyptian civilisation… praising the achievements Egypt has accomplished so far in its development process and the tangible progress it has made in its economic reform programme, as well as the mega national projects it has recently been implementing," a statement by the Egyptian presidential spokesperson said.

The Japanese prime minister noted that that the current positive developments in Egypt have significantly contributed to attracting more Japanese investments to its market, the spokesman said.

Abe also praised the pivotal role Cairo plays in the region.

President El-Sisi expressed his keenness to co-chair the TICAD summit with Prime Minister Abe within the framework of efforts to strengthen the strategic partnership between Egypt and Japan and the promotion of high-level policy dialogue between Africa and Japan.

The presidential spokesperson said that the Egyptian-Japanese talks reviewed Egypt’s contribution to efforts to serve Africa through its current chairmanship of the African Union, as well as Tokyo’s keenness on working closely with African countries to achieve the goals of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the African Union Agenda 2063.

The two sides reviewed a number of bilateral issues pertaining to Egyptian-Japanese relations and enhancing cooperation between the two countries in the fields of basic education, higher education, culture, technology, energy and transport, in addition to the implementation of the project to build the Grand Egyptian Museum, as well as encouraging more Japanese companies to invest in Egypt.

The two leaders also discussed a number of regional issues of mutual concern.

The two sides agreed upon the necessity of reaching political settlements for regional crises and continuing coordination between the two countries on all levels.

The Japanese prime minister expressed his support for Egypt’s efforts to fight terrorism and extremist in the Middle East.

The 7th TICAD7 summit is held in Yokohama, Japan from 28 to 30 August.

The forum will be attended by 1,500 Japanese businessmen and 50 Egyptian businessmen.

In the opening session of the summit on Wednesday, President El-Sisi called on African countries and Japan to increase cooperation to benefit from Africa's natural resources.

As the current chairman of the African Union, the Egyptian president said he was hopeful the TICAD 7 would achieve tangible results in furthering the partnership between Japan and Africa.

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