Egypt is able to face challenges, merge into global economy

"The Egyptian-Japanese current cooperation reflects the strong economic relation binding the two countries, "said Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros Ghali at the opening of the conference on "Japanese Finance Lines and Aid Mechanisms" which was co-organized last week by the Egyptian-Japanese Business Council and the Japanese International Development Bank.

The Japanese contribution is demonstrated in many development ventures in Egypt, the last of which was the Egyptian-Japanese cooperation in building a suspension bridge crossing the Suez Canal in Egypt, Ghali added.

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ahmed AL-Darsh said the conference constitutes a good opportunity for holding more bilateral meetings between the two sides with the aim of enhancing economic and trade cooperation as well as increasing the opportunities of setting up joint ventures.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Egyptian-Japanese Business Council and head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries Abdel Moneim Seoudi said the government takes great interest in promoting the Egyptian-Japanese cooperation and hence the agreement on setting up this council was signed during President Hosni Mubarak's visit to Japan two years ago.

The Council contributed to pushing forward bilateral cooperation through various activities, mainly organizing two investment symposiums along with Japan's extending of seven long-term loans to Egypt to be used in various development Projects, Seoudi added.

"Talks are under way for providing a credit line through Egyptian banks boosting investment and trade ventures between the two sides," Seoudi said.

He also asserted the role of the private sector in activating bilateral cooperation, especially in the fields of economy and technology, besides facilitating the setting up of joint ventures and developing human resources.

On the other hand, the Japanese delegation discussed the Bank's various financial mechanisms for furthering trade and investment exchange as well as soft loans' programs extended to the Egyptian private sector at a cost of $ 300 million for the first phase.

The Japanese delegation also discussed three projects for easy-term finance, to be paid over ten years at a low interest of 1.8 per cent through the Egyptian banks.

These ventures are for developing Japanese investments in Egypt, enhancing trade exchange while the third is allocated for Mega projects. The delegation of the Japanese bank, the largest development bank in the world, had visited Egypt last month to map out the credit system for these projects and the credit ceiling of some participating banks.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the Social Fund for Development (SFD) Hussein AL-Gammal referred to the Japanese governments approval to offer a $ 50-million soft loan to the SFD to be paid over 40 years at a token interest of 0.75 per cent. He said this loan underlines the strength of political and economic relations between Egypt and Japan as well as opportunities of luring Japanese investments and technology especially in the fields of food and hi-tech and small and medium size industries.

It is worth noting that the volume of Japan's loans extended to Egypt over the past 11 years reached $ 5 billion divided as follows : $ 1.3 billion for trade loans, investment loans, besides s 3.6 billion in aid.

Japan's volume of investments in Egypt reached $ 190 million till 1999. The Japanese exports to Egypt amounted to $ 936 million in 1999 while the Egyptian exports to Japan hit $ 135 million during the same period.

Addressing the closing session of the Japanese "Credit Lines and Aid Mechanisms Conference," Prime Minister Dr. Atef Ebeid said that Egypt at present faces two main challenges to enable it to merge into the global economy. These include boosting the economy and upgrading infrastructure.

'' He reiterated the importance of concluding international cooperation agreements and attracting world companies so as to provide more job opportunities and transfer sophisticated technology.

Ebeid hailed the role of the Japanese government in supporting the economic reform and development process in Egypt in various domains.