Further, the management of valuable water resources, which impacts the stability of the region, is an important challenge shared by the countries of the Middle East that. Japan, giving appropriate consideration to the areas of assistance and target priorities in each country, supports proactively building the environment to facilitate socioeconomic stability in the region, and to achieve Middle East peace. The points of focus are as follows.

(1) Peace-building (Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine)

(2) Middle East peace process (assistance to the

Palestinians, aid to the surrounding Arab countries, etc.)

(3) Fair political process and government (including electoral assistance in Egypt and Tunisia, addressing disparity and enhancing stability by implementing aid projects in such areas as rural development, poverty reduction, water resources development, disaster prevention, and counter-terrorism and security)

(4) Human resource development, socio-economic infrastructure development for job creation, and fostering of industries

(See page 96 onwards for details regarding Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestinian issue.)

# "Bosphorus Rail Tube Crossing Project" Loan Aid (September 1999 - Current)

Turkey

Located on the boundary between Asia and Europe, the city of Istanbul is a crossroads for the civilizations of the East and West as the center of commercial trade in Turkey. By the Bosphorus Straits as boundary, the city is separated into the commercial district on the European side of Istanbul and the residential district on the Asian side. During commuting hours, the two bridges over the Bosphorus Straits suffer chronic traffic congestion. There has been great expectation that a railway across Bosphorus Straits would alleviate the terrible traffic jams. Accordingly, Japan has provided ODA loan for the construction of a subway line to cross the Straits (total length 13.6 km, with 1.4 km over the Straits). This will make it possible for one million people to commute. Like Japan, Turkey experiences frequent earthquakes. Japan's advanced quake resistance technology is used, among others, for an undersea tunnel with an enhanced design that can withstand earthquakes up to the magnitude of 7.5. Since the Turkish State Railways is planned to be linked with the subway line, it is likely to play a significant role as a major railway linking Asia and Europe in the future.

Construction staff members celebrate the connection of the undersea tunnel that crosses the Bosphorus Straits (maximum depth: approximately 60 m below sea level) with the tunnel that was dug from ground level (Asian side) (Photo: JICA)

# “Project for the Conservation Centre in the Grand Egyptian Museum” Paid Technical Assistance Project related to ODA Loan (June 2008 - Current)

Egypt

Tourism has a major role to play in stimulating the economy in Egypt, and cultural heritages are particularly important tourism resources. The objective of this project is to develop the human resources required to restore and manage 100,000

artifacts that will be displayed in the Grand Egyptian Museum planned for construction in the future. (In May 2006, Japan decided to provide ODA loans to assist for the construction.) Since 2008, Japan has conducted many types of training for local staffs of the Conservation Center that will be part of the museum. The themes of training include conservation of paper, dyed textiles, and metal, and the packaging and transfer of artifacts.

The appropriate storage of valuable artifacts such as papyrus requires learning world-class preservation technology and improving the display environment. Although Egyptian technicians have the basic capacities, they still have insufficient knowledge and experience with the latest technology and management methods, and the capacity development of young technicians is also a challenge. Japanese experts with advanced technology provide practical training in related areas.

Confirming artifacts related to Tutankhamen (Photo: JICA)