Japanese Amb. Attends Handover Ceremony of Medical Equipment to Egypt

NOKE Masaki, Ambassador of Japan to Egypt, attended a handover ceremony of medical equipment to combat COVID-19, including four Japanese-made ultrasound diagnostic imaging systems and flow cytometer, at Suez Canal University.

The equipment will help Egypt’s efforts to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and contribute to the Japanese-sponsored training of African medical experts at Suez Canal University to improve their diagnosing skills for the health of mothers and children.

The ceremony was also attended by Professor Ahmed Zaki, President of Suez Canal University, Ambassador Hesham El-Mekwad, Deputy Secretary-General, Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development, and Mr. OMURA Yoshifumi, Chief Representative at JICA Egypt office.

At the ceremony, Ambassador Nokeexpressed his hope that this provision of medical equipment, mainly Japanese-made, will further promote both Japan-Egypt and Japan-Egypt-Africa cooperation in the health and medical sectors. He also expressed his pleasure that the visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the successful triangular cooperation among Japan, Egypt, and other African countries in such important fields.

Professor Ahmed Zaki, President of Suez Canal University, and other Egyptian attendees expressed their sincere appreciation to Japan’s commitment to supporting Egypt’s fight against COVID-19 and cooperation for training African medical experts at Suez Canal University. The Egyptian side said that they will take full advantage of the equipment in dealing with COVID-19 and developing the partnership with its African countries.

In his speech, Ambassador Noke also stated that the current pandemic is a “human security” crisis, posing threats to people’s survival, livelihood, and dignity, and said no one should be left behind in the efforts to provide protection against the pandemic.

Japan has extended its support to Egypt in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic by providing more than 250 million USD for the provision of Japanese-made medical equipment for the wide population, including women and children, improvement of the cold chain, support to new research at Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology(E-JUST), and budgetary support for the mitigation of economic impacts caused by the pandemic. Japan also cooperates with COVAX, a global framework for vaccination, with a contribution of 1 billion USD, which represents more than 10 % of its total budget as of June.

Prior to the ceremony, Noke visited the Faculty of Medicine in Suez Canal University, which has been a sister hospital of Kumamoto Medical Center in Japan since 2000. Currently, eight medical doctors who participated in the JICA training course in Japan work at the faculty.