Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced the signing with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida of the third tranche project for the first phase of line 4 of the Cairo metro in the amount of about $700 million.
A cabinet statement said that after the Egyptian Prime Minister and his Japanese counterpart chaired the Egyptian-Japanese business forum today, Sunday: “One of the largest funding packages has been signed to support Egypt’s transport development plan which finances the third tranche. project of the first stage of the fourth line. From the Greater Cairo metro at a cost of 100 billion Japanese yen, or about 700 million dollars, which will help connect the city of October Sixth with the archaeological site of the pyramid to the metro network.
Madbouli added, “The portfolio of cooperation between Egypt and Japan has shown steady growth in recent years, as the total portfolio of Japanese grants and loans amounted to about 3 billion US dollars to implement more than 18 projects in line with the sustainable development goals and the government’s 2030 plan.”
Madbouli listed these projects in the “first phase of the fourth metro line”, the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Egyptian-Japanese University, the Egyptian-Japanese Schools Project, the outpatient clinic project at the University Children’s Hospital – Abu El-Rish. and the Burj Al Arab Airport Modernization Project.
Madbouli cited “remarkable developments surrounding the issuance of Egyptian Samurai Bonds in Japan in April 2022”, pointing to an increase in Japanese direct investment in Egypt by about 52% in 2021, with about 87 Japanese companies currently operating in Egypt.
The Egyptian prime minister also warned that “bilateral trade exchange remains less than the capacity of the two countries,” explaining that “the average trade exchange between Egypt and Japan over the past five years has been $1.3 billion.”
Madbouli also stressed that in recent years, there has been notable progress in bilateral relations between the two countries, which manifests itself in various forms, including the establishment of the Egyptian-Japanese Business and Investment Promotion Committee, which serves as a platform to identify opportunities and challenges facing economic cooperation between the two countries. countries, and offer practical solutions and recommendations needed to circumvent it.
Madbouli emphasized “the many structural reforms undertaken by the Egyptian state to improve the business environment, simplify procedures, reduce bureaucracy, fight corruption and ensure fair competition, in addition to launching many major infrastructure development projects such as roads, bridges, ports. , airports, railways and electricity”, as well as water treatment”.
The Egyptian Prime Minister noted that “the government is working to complete a set of structural reforms to improve the business climate and ensure equal opportunities for all.”
He concluded: “The government has finalized a public ownership policy paper to ensure greater private sector participation in the economy and increase its contribution from 30% to 65% over the next three years.”
Notably, the Egyptian finance minister discussed in January 2022 with the Japanese ambassador in Cairo the possibility of issuing Egyptian bonds in Japan as part of plans to issue various medium and long-term government bonds aimed at new instruments. such as sukuk, sustainability bonds and green bonds, in a way that helps broaden the investor base and attract additional liquidity to the public stock market, which helps reduce the cost of debt.
Source: Sputnik
