Al-Mashat, Korean Ambassador Discuss Bilateral Co-op

Nada Mustafa

Korean Ambassador to Egypt Mr. Hong Jin-wook, met with Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat, on Monday, to share their opinions regarding outcomes of bilateral development cooperation this year and the two sides exchanged their views on ways to strengthen bilateral development cooperation.

On his part, Hong mentioned that since Egypt became an official development assistance (ODA) priority partner country in 2021, the development cooperation between two countries has continued to be strengthened and added that trusted relationship was reinforced through Korean President’s visit to Egypt in January this year and phone call between two Presidents, Yoon Suk Yeol and Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, on 20 October.

Also, he stressed the fruitful outcomes such as contract for manufacture and supply of 320 subway vehicles with Hyundai Rotem, contract for the joint manufacturing of K-9 Howitzers and exchange of note for establishing public e-procurement system were made after aforementioned President’s visit.

Moreover, he mentioned that the volume of bilateral development cooperation continues to expand including the MOU on financial cooperation with 1 billion dollars of EDCF signed in January this year and 460 million dollars of EDCF in contract for manufacture and supply of subway vehicles with Hyundai Rotem.

He expressed his satisfaction on successful bilateral development cooperation because it not only helps to boost the economic development of Egypt but also contributes to improving the quality of Egyptian people’s lives.

He also expressed his hope to expand bilateral cooperation to future-oriented fields such as renewable energy, space and aviation in the future.

In addition, Al-Mashat agreed on Ambassador Hong's words on outcomes of bilateral development cooperation this year and expressed her gratitude for Korean government’s tireless efforts in strengthening bilateral cooperation including designating Egypt as an ODA priority partner country.

Moreover, she mentioned that she is very happy because development cooperation through EDCF and KOICA is more active than ever before amid the continued win-win cooperation between two countries, and emphasized that continuous seeking creative cooperation ways together is important to maintain this momentum.

Through this meeting, Ambassador Hong and Minister Rania Al-Mashat agreed that it is important to find more development cooperation projects in various fields to strengthen win-win cooperation between two countries and promised to keep close communication to this.