Japanese Prime Minister’s special envoy to attend opening ceremony of Grand Egyptian Museum

CAIRO – 31 October 2025: The Japanese Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that Ms. KUNIMITSU Aya, the special envoy of the Japanese Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae, will attend the opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Egypt.

KUNIMITSU will represent Tokyo at the world's largest cultural event, Ministry added, noting that her visit will last from October 31 to November 1, the day of the opening ceremony.

The statement added that during her visit to Egypt, Kunimetsu is scheduled to hold discussions with high-ranking Egyptian officials on Middle East peace, as well as ways to strengthen bilateral relations between Egypt and Japan.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is main funder of the GEM as it provided two soft loans totaling around $$800 million to cover construction and associated costs, according to JICA data.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Special Envoy and Minister of Culture and Tourism Sun Yeli will attend the opening ceremony. Also, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) will arrive in Cairo on Friday for a two-day official visit to Egypt at the invitation of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to participate in the opening.

In one of the most defining moments in the history of cultural cooperation between Egypt and Japan, the world now awaits the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum on November 1, a monumental landmark set to become one of the largest museums on Earth and a new global icon of human civilization.

For more than two decades, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been a cornerstone partner in transforming this dream into reality, a symbol of collaboration and mutual understanding between nations. In an exclusive conversation with Ebisawa Yu, JICA’s Chief Representative in Egypt, he shared insights into the museum’s remarkable journey, the pride of seeing it completed, and the depth of the Egyptian-Japanese partnership that combined Japan’s advanced expertise with Egypt’s creative vision to present the world with a masterpiece that bridges the genius of the past with the spirit of the present.