President El-Sisi Meets Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Matsumoto Yohei. The meeting was attended by Minister of Education and Technical Education Mohamed Abdel Latif, Japan’s Ambassador to Egypt Iwai Fumio, Director-General for International Affairs at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Kitayama Kouji, also from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Mr. Kobataki Yasu.

The Spokesman for the Presidency, Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy, said the President welcomed the Japanese minister and asked him to convey his greetings to His Majesty Emperor Naruhito of Japan and to Her Excellency Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

The President emphasized that Egypt holds in high esteem its close and longstanding cooperation with Japan in various fields, particularly education. The President commended Japan’s significant contribution to the Grand Egyptian Museum project and the success of the Egyptian-Japanese Schools project, noting Egypt’s interest in increasing the number of these schools in various governorates and enhancing the participation and increasing the number of Japanese principals and experts managing them.

The Japanese Minister of Education noted this was his first official visit abroad since assuming office, which reflects Japan’s keenness to enhance cooperation with Egypt in the field of education. He emphasized that the Egyptian-Japanese Schools project represents a successful model of developmental cooperation and the support Japan provides to its partners in Africa and the Middle East. The Japanese minister also offered his congratulations on the election of Dr. Khaled El-Enany as Director-General of UNESCO, noting that Japan looked forward to further strengthening cooperation and coordination with UNESCO and Dr. El-Enany.

The meeting addressed prospects for developing educational relations between the two countries, including cooperation in developing Egyptian curricula, introducing software studies for approximately 750,000 students according to the Japanese curriculum, as well as cooperation in technical education and training Egyptian teachers to teach the Japanese language and curriculum, and supporting education and rehabilitation programs for people with special needs. Both sides also discussed means to expand the Japanese schools in Egypt to serve as a model that could be replicated in Africa and the Arab region.

The President expressed his appreciation to Japan for its cooperation with Egypt in all fields, especially education, and looked forward to doubling the targeted number of Japanese schools in Egypt in the next five years, as well as to increase the number of Japanese experts managing those schools. The President stressed the importance of benefiting from the distinguished Japanese experience in discipline and educational vision, and working to intensify student exchange programs between the two countries.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.