Al-Mashat’s remarks came after meeting with the Ambassador of Japan to Egypt Oka Hiroshi on Sunday to discuss future priorities of the Egyptian-Japanese relationship and ways to strengthen the economic relations between both countries.

During the meeting, Al-Mashat highlighted the strong partnership between Egypt and Japan, noting their significant collaboration in various strategic sectors. These include investments in human capital, infrastructure projects, and the transition to renewable energy.

The meeting with Al-Mashat follows another last week between Hiroshi and Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk, during which Kouchouk encouraged Japanese investors to take advantage of the competitive economic opportunities available in the Egyptian market.

Al-Mashat also emphasized the importance of strengthening partnerships with the Japanese side, especially in industrial development and localization of industries.

During the meeting, she discussed several common priority topics with Hiroshi, including the development policy program and grants in the culture and agriculture sector.

Furthermore, Al-Mashat underscored Egypt’s partnership with the Japanese International Cooperation Authority (JICA) and other financing institutions to stimulate private sector investment in priority sectors.

The meeting with the Japanese ambassador aligns with the new cabinet’s plan to increase the annual growth rate of foreign direct investments to about 14 percent by 2030 per the State Ownership Policy Document.

Al-Mashat also highlighted the vital roles played by Japanese institutions in financing the private sector to implement energy axis projects within the NWFE program.

JICA contributes to financing the establishment of Abydos station to produce electricity from solar energy with a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW).

Similarly, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) contributes to financing the establishment of the Amunet station in the Ras Gharib region to produce electricity from wind energy with a capacity of 500 MW.

In addition, Al-Mashat said that the coming period will witness the availability of more financing mechanisms and technical support to Egyptian private sector companies from Japanese institutions, similar to what was implemented in the NWFE program.

Japan is one of Egypt's most important Asian development partners. It cooperates with Egypt on more than 18 development projects, worth about $3.9 billion, to support its plan to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030. In addition, Japan provides many development grants to Egypt in health, education, energy, electricity, transportation, civil aviation, tourism, antiquities, and irrigation and education.