Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, met the delegation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), headed by Matsunaga Hideki, Director of the Middle East and Europe region at JICA, in the presence of Kato Kane, head of the Egypt office in the authority, and many officials in the office of the Japan Cooperation Authority. Ms. Shaima Al-Behairy, supervisor of the Asian cooperation file in the Technical Office of the Minister of International Cooperation, attended the International Cooperation in Egypt.
The meeting witnessed discussions on several important files within the framework of vital cooperation between the government and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and follow-up on the status of the ongoing projects in light of joint development efforts between the two countries, in addition to discussing preparations for the convening of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Agreement COP27 in Egypt. Next November, as well as the holding of the Egypt-ICF Forum for International Cooperation and Development Finance. The talks touched on discussing potential future projects between the two sides in light of the country’s development priorities.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Minister of International Cooperation welcomed the officials of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), stressing Egypt’s keenness to promote joint relations to support development efforts in various fields.
The Minister of International Cooperation reviewed the development of the development cooperation portfolio between Egypt and its multilateral and bilateral development partners over the past period. Egypt deals with its relations with development partners within the framework of partnership and strategic relations of the two parties, whether at the bilateral or multilateral level.
She also pointed out that the development funds made available to the private sector through development partners over the past two years amounted to about $4.7 billion, which confirms the state’s keenness to stimulate the private sector’s participation in development and open up prospects for cooperation in various fields.
Al-Mashat detailed the preparations made by the Ministry of International Cooperation under the umbrella of the national efforts made in light of the COP27 climate summit, pointing out that the ministry is working on many files, the most important of which is the “Noufi” program to finance the list of green government projects in the fields of energy, food and water, under The umbrella of the National Strategy for Climate Change 2050, and in support of government efforts to shift towards a green economy.
Al-Mashat indicated that two platforms for joint coordination cooperation were held at the beginning of July to promote this program to all multilateral and bilateral development partners and the private sector, as well as multiple meetings with development partners, and a list of projects and their details were sent to all partners, explaining that the program It is considered as a national platform for a just transition to finance the list of priority green projects for the Egyptian state, as it combines adaptation and mitigation projects with the repercussions of climate change and reflects the goals that Egypt is working to achieve within the framework of the climate summit, which is the transition from climate pledges to implementation.
The Minister of International Cooperation also referred to the Egypt-ICF Forum, which is scheduled to be held next September, in its second edition, and will also witness the gathering of African finance and environment ministers with the aim of coordinating African positions and visions on climate finance and how to mobilize and direct the efforts of the international community Towards the continent of Africa during the upcoming climate summit, by providing development and innovative financing as well as a climate of technical support.
In light of the importance of innovative financing to mobilize private sector investments for climate finance, Al-Mashat pointed to the efforts undertaken by the ministry to discuss efforts to promote innovative financing with multilateral and bilateral development partners, adding that the government succeeded – in light of the food crisis that the world suffers from due to the Russian war. Ukrainian – in providing development financing from the World Bank and the African Development Bank, amounting to 500 million dollars and 270 million dollars to enhance food security efforts and finance the purchase of wheat. The Minister of International Cooperation also presented the government’s accumulated experiences in debt exchange programs for development with the German and Italian sides.
During the meeting, Matsunaga Hideki, Director of JICA Middle East and Europe, praised the development efforts and what has been achieved in Egypt over the past years, in various fields, especially infrastructure, and the ability of the Egyptian state to complete these projects despite the successive exceptional circumstances the world is going through. Such as the Corona pandemic, pointing out that Egypt showed resilience and strong resilience in the face of these crises and was able to achieve positive growth despite most countries in the region and the world affected by successive crises. He also praised the coordination and continuous follow-up by the Minister of International Cooperation and the ministry’s work team regarding following up on joint cooperation files in order to develop relations between the two friendly countries.
Matsunaga pointed out the importance of the files and themes that the Ministry of International Cooperation is working on within the framework of the climate summit, pointing out that the Japan International Cooperation Authority has a track record of development efforts made with the government, and it is expected that the coming period will witness further expansion of these relations and joint work in support of all One of the development axes, and the authority’s keenness to participate in the “Nofi” program to finance green projects in the water, food and energy sectors, promote green transformation in Egypt, and support the government’s efforts to enhance its resilience in the face of the current food crisis.
The cooperation between Egypt and Japan began since 1954, and the development cooperation portfolio is diversified in many sectors. The current portfolio of economic cooperation between the two countries amounts to about $2.8 billion to implement 14 projects, including health, electricity, transport, navigation, education, higher education and irrigation.
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