The Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr, along with the Minister of Finance, Mohamed Moeit, and the Chairperson of the Suez Canal Authority and the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), Mohab Mamish, begin a visit to Seoul in South Korea on Monday. Over the visit, they will meet the South Korean Prime Minister, Lee Nak-yeon, according to a Sunday statement from the ministry of investment and international cooperation.
The statement added that an Egyptian-Korean business forum will be held over the visit, affirming a past exclusive report from Daily News Egypt on 17 February which mentioned that Nasr will be accompanied by a business delegation, and will discuss with the Korean side their successful expertise in the establishment of free and investment zones.
Moreover, Egypt’s senior officials will meet with representatives of leading Korean firms, as well as Korean financial institutions, the statement added, noting that they will pay a site visit to one of the Korean projects as a successful model for Korean expertise in the establishment of investment areas.
Egypt is keen on making a full use of the visit for promoting the bilateral relations with Korea, in line with the current successful partnership and unique economic cooperation which is obvious through the successful models of Korean investments in the local market, Nasr asserted.
“We look forward to more cooperation with Korea in light of the huge developmental projects that Egypt is implementing, which are improving the infrastructure and the investment climate,” she mentioned, calling on the Korean companies to inject new investments into the Egyptian market.
Egypt enjoys promising investment opportunities in diversified sectors, Nasr noted, explaining that Korean investments in Egypt are estimated at $560m, including the successful stories of LG Electronics and Samsung Group.
Moreover, Nasr pointed out to the fruitful cooperation with South Korea since the visit of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to Korea in March 2016.
Meanwhile, Moeit stated that Egypt will show its successful reform experience and the achieved economic accomplishments, in addition to discussing ways to promote the current cooperation aspects with Korea.
“We will call on the Korean companies to invest in the SCZone. We aim to promote the cooperation in the ships industry,” Mamish mentioned.
Notably, a financing package of $3bn was announced during Al-Sisi’s visit to South Korea in 2016. The package has two parts, the first includes $700m provided by the Economic Development Cooperation Fund with a low-interest loan and a long-term repayment period over 30 years. The rest of the funding is $2.3bn, which will be used as export credit.
