Egypt Receives $500,000 Medical Supplies from Korea

As part of Korea’s COVID-19 solidarity response and medical cooperation, Ambassador Hong Jin-Wook witnessed with Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, the handover of medical supplies worth $500,000 from the Korean government to support Egypt’s anti-COVID response activities.

The medical aid was approved in August 2020 which includes supplies of 227 PCR Test Kit of Real-Time from Kogene Biotech worth $ 250 thousand that arrived in Cairo on 14th October 2020, and medical masks KF94 (223,000 pieces) and KF80 (149,000 pieces) to be delivered mid-December 2020.

Ambassador Jin-Wook said that this collaboration reflects the Korean government’s commitment to work with partner countries to confront the COVID-19 pandemic.  He noted that medical cooperation is an important facet for Korea-Egypt bilateral relations, pointing to the two telephone conversations between Korean President Moon Jae-in and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi that took place this March and October, during which the two leaders stressed the importance of promoting joint medical cooperation mechanisms and exchanging experiences to combat this unprecedented pandemic.

It is worth noting that the Korean government was the first to provide cash support of $200,000 to fund emergency health response activities with the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Egypt in May 2020.

Additional support was provided in November 2020 through Official Development Assistance ODA worth $200,000 for the supply of two medical equipment, an oxygen tank, and CT scanner to a public hospital (El-Salhya El-Gedida Central Hospital) in Al-Sharqia governorate with the aim of improving the hospital’s capacity and contributing to its COVID-19 combating efforts.

Jin-Wook added that Korean companies are willing to export to Cairo its needs of medical equipment and facilities to help combat COVID-19, as well as transferring their knowledge and expertise through participating in national projects in the health sector.

Prior to the handover ceremony, Jin-Wook discussed with Al-Mashat means for boosting economic cooperation between the two countries. They expressed their satisfaction that Korea has a persified cooperation portfolio with Cairo worth $458 million in vital sectors to the Egyptian citizens and gives a priority to infrastructure and human capital as a core of its development projects in Egypt, which aligns with its inclusive growth and sustainable development goals.

Al-Mashat expressed hope that the two countries’ cooperation would be further expanded and persified in the years to come.