President of the Egyptian National Railways Authority Mostafa Abu Al-Makarem has signed a soft loan agreement with President of the Korean Import and Export Bank, Bang Moon-Ki, to develop signalling and communication systems in the Luxor-High Dam line with a length of 224 km.
The soft loan is provided by the Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), which amounts to $251.6m.
The authority explained that the project aims to increase the safety, security factors, and the automatic control systems on the trains during their journey and will also contribute to reducing the time of rushing, thus increasing the number of trains on the network to accommodate the future increase in the number of passengers as well as the increasing demand for the transportation of goods of various kinds via rail trains.
Furthermore, aspects of cooperation between the two sides in the field of railways were discussed on the sidelines of the signing event.
Last Thursday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in paid a visit to Cairo, meeting his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Both presidents agreed to boost cooperation in multiple fields to support Cairo’s efforts towards a fourth industrial revolution.
The presidents also witnessed the signing of several memoranda of understanding (MoUs), including a $1bn deal on financial cooperation from 2022 to 2026 between the two countries.
No more details on the MoUs were provided, however, the South Korean Ambassador to Cairo Hong Jin-Wook told journalists earlier this week that South Korea expects to sign an MoU for a $1bn soft loan to Egypt.
The other MoUs include a joint feasibility study for economic and trade partnership and a $251m loan to upgrade the Luxor-High Dam railway line. A grant of $8m has also been signed.
