RIYADH: Egypt signed its largest ever investment package with Japan on Sunday aimed at supporting its transport development plan.
The agreement, worth 100 billion yen ($734 million), will be used to finance Cairo’s metro expansion, a 30-km stretch of land that would link Egypt’s 6th of October city to the Giza plateau.
The deal was signed during a business forum in the presence of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida.
In addition to Tokyo’s contribution to expanding Cairo’s metro service, the total Japanese investments in the North African country have so far amounted to $3 billion in more than 18 projects under Egypt’s sustainable development goals, a statement issued by the Egyptian Cabinet said.
Kishida arrived in Egypt on Saturday at the start of a four-country African tour focusing on trade relations between his country and Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, and Mozambique.
The Japanese premier also held a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and discussed ways to improve Egypt’s investment climate and increase Japanese investments in different sectors.
Over the past five years, the trade exchange between the two countries has reached $1.3 billion.
The direct Japanese investments in Egypt surged by 52 percent in 2021 with an estimated 87 firms operating in the North African country.
The value of Japanese investments in Egypt increased 98.7 percent to reach $73.7 million during the fiscal year 2021-2022 as compared to $37.1 million in the previous year, official data showed.
According to the data issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, the volume of trade between the two countries dipped by 26.3 percent to $1.1 billion in 2022.
Egypt exported goods worth $260.8 million to Japan in 2022, which included fuel, minerals, fruit, iron and steel products, carpets, and animal feed.
The North African country imported goods worth $888.5 million from Japan over the same 12-month period, including boilers, machinery, equipment, and mechanical tools, as well as cars, tractors, bicycles, and pharmaceutical products.
