Japan PM in Cairo for Egyptian-Japanese summit

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi hails co-operation with Japan after meeting Fumio Kishida

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Cairo after a meeting on Sunday. AFP

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi praised Japan's support for his government's development projects after a meeting on Sunday with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Mr Kishida, who is heading his country's delegation at a three-day Egypt-Japan summit in Cairo, held talks with Mr El Sisi at the Al Ittihadiya Presidential Palace, where the two leaders later addressed a joint press conference.

Mr El Sisi singled out Tokyo’s contributions to the yet-to-be-opened Grand Egyptian Museum and co-operation on improving Egypt's education system, while also inviting more Japanese investment in the country.

Egypt began introducing Tokkatsu, a holistic education system developed in Japan, at some schools in 2018, while the Egypt-Japan University for Science and Technology, a joint project between the nations and a number of African countries, began receiving students in 2020.

“These as well as numerous other projects are an attest to the friendship between both our countries,” Mr El Sisi said.

He said foreign investment in Egypt was one of the main topics discussed with the Japanese Prime Minister.

“I have shown Mr Kishida all the economic and legislative reforms we have implemented to improve the investment climate in Egypt over the past few years,” Mr El Sisi said.

“I invite the Japanese government to encourage Japanese companies to bring more investments to Egypt.”

Mr Kishida said he and Mr El Sisi had agreed their countries should co-operate to bring back civilian rule to Sudan, where a war has broken out between the armed forces and a rival paramilitary group.

Condemning the war in Ukraine, Mr Kishida said he had also agreed with Mr El Sisi to “uphold rules-based international order” with regards to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which he said was as "an outrageous act that shakes the very foundations of the international order".

"As a country that has suffered atomic bombings in war, Japan never accepts the threat of nuclear weapons by Russia and they should never be used," he said.

Mr Kishida took office in 2021, following the assassination of Shinzo Abe, a three-time prime minister under whose leadership relations between Tokyo and Cairo grew significantly.

He told reporters before leaving Japan that one of the main objectives of his tour was to build up support for Ukraine ahead of the annual G7 summit on May 19-21. Japan, which holds the G7 presidency this year, will host the summit in the city of Hiroshima.

While Mr Kishida has been vocal about his intentions to rally countries against Moscow's aggression in Ukraine, particularly in the global south, African countries including Egypt have taken a neutral stance on the war to preserve their economic ties with Russia.

Although Egypt and Japan have always enjoyed good bilateral relations, their ties were taken to “broader horizons” in 2015, according to a statement from Japan’s embassy in Egypt.

In January, Japan’s Ambassador to Egypt Oka Hiroshi met with Egypt's minister of public enterprises to discuss expanding economic co-operation between the countries.

Japan’s foreign direct investments in Egypt have doubled over the past year, Mr Hiroshi said in January, highlighting a keenness on the part of Japanese companies to expand into more sectors of the Egyptian economy.

Egypt’s imports from Japan totalled about $709 million in 2022, according to the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade. The most imported item was motor vehicles.

Egyptian exports to Japan totalled about $238 million during the same period, with the fuel oil and other petroleum products making up around $181 million.