Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met on Friday with the chairman and members of the Japan-Egypt Business Council at a business lunch held on the sidelines of Shoukry’s current visit to Tokyo to participate in the ministerial meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) on 6 and 7 October.

The Egyptian foreign minister had also delivered a message from President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on enhancing strategic cooperation between both countries, according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Hafez.

Shoukry reviewed the latest developments of Egypt’s economic reform program and the government’s efforts to achieve comprehensive development, increase growth rates and lure more direct foreign investments, Hafez added.

The foreign minister also pointed out to several positive economic indicators, such as the expected rise in economic growth rate this year, the decline in total budget deficit, in addition to the slump in unemployment rates.

Shoukry noted that foreign investments in Egypt surged to $10 billion in fiscal year 2017/2018.

He added that foreign reserves increased to $44.1 billion during the current fiscal year, compared to some $18 billion in 2014.