Meeting between Foreign Minister Gemba and Mr. Mohamed Kamel Amr, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt

March 22, 2012
Japanese

(Photo)Meeting between Foreign Minister Gemba and Mr. Mohamed Kamel Amr, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt-2

On Thursday, March 22, Mr. Koichiro Gemba, Minister for Foreign Affairs, held a meeting with H.E. Mr. Mohamed Kamel Amr, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, from 6:30 pm for approximately 55 minutes. The overview of the meeting is as follows:

At the beginning
Minister Gemba welcomed Minister Amr’s first visit to Japan and expressed his gratitude for the support from Egypt to Japan in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Moreover, Minister Gemba saluted the historic reform achieved by the Egyptian people last year and expressed his expectation to Egypt for smooth transition to a democratic system and for Egypt’s role as a moderate force in the region.
In response, Minister Amr stated that the strength and courage of Japanese people in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake had moved many Egyptian people. He also noted that Japan had always provided support to Egypt when Egypt was in a difficult situation and the assistance in the wake of the earthquake was made in return for the past support from Japan.
Situation in Egypt and support to Egypt from Japan
Minister Amr briefed on the future process for democratization and the economic and social problems Egypt is currently facing and also expressed his gratitude for Japan’s spearheading initiative in supporting such efforts for political reform.
In response, Minister Gemba mentioned about support for employment creation in Egypt by the supplementary budget of Japan this fiscal year and the Great Egyptian Museum construction project and stated that Japan would continue its support of reform forces in Egypt through Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Bilateral economic relationship
Minister Gemba pointed out the significance of promoting foreign investment to achieve economic stability, and to that end, noted the importance of facilitating the business environment stating for the two countries to further strengthen dialogues between governments as well as between private enterprises. In this context, Minister Gemba, while expressing his gratitude to Egypt for easing restrictions on imports from Japan last year, stated his expectation for early and further relaxation and removal of such restrictions.
In response, Minister Amr stated he would like to make every effort for improvement of the investment environment and welcomed the strengthening of dialogue between the two countries concerning economic issues. With regard to the problem of harmful rumors, Minister Amr responded that the Government of Egypt would like to consider further relaxation of restrictions on imports from Japan.
Cooperation in the international arena and regional situation
The ministers exchanged views on the cooperation in the international arena such as the United Nations Security Council reform and Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), and confirmed that the two countries would continue consultation and cooperation.
Also, the ministers explained their respective position in regard to Middle East Peace, the situation in Syria, and the situation in Iran and confirmed that the two countries would continue cooperation concerning these issues.

(*The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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