The Egyptian and Japanese governments have signed an agreement granting a loan of $460 million to push the highly anticipated museum to completion, after more than a year of delays due to a lack of funds. Now, with the help of Japan, the museum is slated to partially open next year.
Initially, Japan pledged only $140 million to help with the museum’s completion.
Once complete, the Grand Museum will be one of Egypt’s most important and biggest in the world, featuring more than 100,000 artifacts from all pharaonic periods.
International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr said that the new museum will help boost Egypt’s struggling tourism sector, according to Egypt Independent.
Located close to the famous Pyramids of Giza, the museum is more than 50 precent complete, according to a statement by Antiquities Minister Khaled Anany.
Funding for the museum dried up in April of 2015 as the Egyptian pound weakened against the United States dollar. This pushed the cost of the museum from $800 million to more than $1 billion. At the time, the antiquities minister said that a further $300 million was needed to complete the project.
Egypt’s museum isn’t the only place in the country that the Japanese are investing in. Back in February, the Japanese government also pledged some $19 billion in economic assistance to Egypt through business projects. The two countries also launched an education agreement that will send 2,500 Egyptian students to study in Japan over the next five years.
Aid from Japan and other countries has been major national news over the past year, serving as a light at the end of the tunnel as the economy continues to worsen. In recent weeks, even sugar has been difficult to come by in Egypt, as the global price has risen and the country has faced a dollar shortage.