“The relations between Egypt and Korea witnessed a historically outstanding shift in 2016 with the visit of H.E. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, to Seoul last March, giving a great momentum to the cooperation between the two countries and paving the way for major developments in the economic and political fields.” So said Ambassador Hany Moawad Selim Lappp of Egypt in Seoul at a recent interview The Korea Post media. Here are excerpts from the interview:
This political will to further consolidate bilateral cooperation was highly reflected in the announcement during the visit of upgrading the relations to a “Comprehensive Cooperative Partnership”, followed by signing a valuable financial package amounting at USD 3billion provided by the Korean Exim-bank to implement infrastructure projects of mutual interest in Egypt especially in the fields of energy and transportation.
When it comes to our future plans in 2017, the expectations are too high; we believe that there are huge potentials of cooperation between the two countries especially in the economic field with its two cornerstones trade and investment. In fact, Egypt is a lucrative and attractive destination for foreign investment; it offers an exceptional opportunity for the Korean products to access key global markets, with its unique geographical location at the centre of the world’s routes and preferential bilateral and multilateral trade agreements with the Unites States, European Union and other Arab-African Countries.
In line with this vision, we expect high level exchange of visits during 2017. The Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry has been invited by his Korean counterpart to visit Korea next year to build on their successful consultations held in Cairo in May 2016 during the visit of the Korean Minister to Egypt, accompanied by a large economic delegation of over 143 representatives of big Korean companies, to follow up the outcomes of the presidential visit and stimulate the existing trade and investment relations.
Moreover, a visit by the Egyptian Minister of transportation to Korea is also proposed in 2017 upon the invitation of the Korean Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to develop conclusions from their discussions last November in Cairo in the field of transportation, encompassing metro and railways projects, as well as prospects of knowledge transfer in the field of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), and enhancing the training courses related to the operation and maintenance of Railways.
At the technical cooperation level, we expect to proceed for the implementation of various meaningful projects signed during the presidential visit, on the top comes the establishment of the Egyptian - Korean Technological College, the development of Alexandria Port, and the modernization of railway signaling system in Upper-Egypt. Besides, there are current negotiations to fund other major projects, namely Cairo Metro line 5 and the establishment of a photovoltaic power plant in the Red Sea coast, in addition to projects in the field of water desalination and waste water treatment plants.
As for the future investment opportunities in Egypt, Korean companies are encouraged to participate in several national projects launched by Al-Sisi administration to be a locomotive for development, such as the new Suez Canal Economic Zone, the Golden Triangle project, the reclamation of 1.5m acres and the new administrative capital, in addition to other infrastructure projects related to water desalination and power plants, ports development and building new urban cities.
The cultural component has equally been considered as one of the most important aspects of the strong diverse relations between Egypt and Korea and a solid ground for the strong ties between the two countries.
For that reason, the Embassy was keen to build partnerships with the Korean cultural institutions to work on creating mutual promotional plans, joint Cultural projects and further develop the fruitful cooperation, especially people-to-people cultural interaction, which in turn is the best means to deepen and consolidate the new partnership between the two countries.
Korea Foundation, being one of the leading Korean cultural Institutions will host an Egyptian Exhibition under the Title “Egyptian Arts featuring Culture, History and Religious Co-existence”, at the K.F. Gallery venue from 3rd till 28th of July 2017.
The train of consolidating the new partnership between Egypt and the Republic of Korea has accelerated its speed significantly in 2016 and together we shall keep the momentum for the mutual welfare and prosperity of our two nations.