Health Minister, Korean Ambassador Discuss Ways to Boost Cooperation

Nada Mustafa

Health Minister Abdel Ghaffar and Ambassador Hong Jin-wook discussed ways of promoting cooperation between Korea and Egypt in the healthcare sector

The Korean Ambassador in Cairo Mr. Hong Jin-wook, met with the Egyptian Minister of Health Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar on Tuesday, May 9th ahead of Ambassador Hong's departure from his post.

Ambassador Hong expressed his gratitude on the efforts made by the Ministry of Health to promote the cooperation between Korea and Egypt in the healthcare sector during his term. In particular, Ambassador Hong mentioned the outstanding cooperation between the two countries with regards to masks, vaccines and medical equipment during the crisis, adding that this will set a great example for prospective cooperation between the two countries if another health crisis arises in the future.

Minister Abdel Ghaffar said that Korea is one of the most important partners in the healthcare sector and added that Korea provided a great deal of assistance such as test kits and masks during the earlier stages of the pandemic in 2020, helping Egypt overcome the crisis in a significant way. Adding that Egypt is grateful for Korea's support in times of need.

Ambassador Hong said Korea hopes to expand cooperation with Egypt in the healthcare sector taking advantage of Egypt's status as the healthcare hub in the region and one of Korea's ODA priority partners. Ambassador Hong also introduced KOICA's various programs in the past years to support the training of Egypt's healthcare personnel.

Minister Abdel Ghaffar expressed his pleasure with the fact that the cooperation is well under way between the two countries and expressed his hope that such cooperation will expand to other areas such as experience sharing and digitalization of medical services.

Ambassador Hong emphasized that many Korean companies with the top-notch technologies are interested in entering the Egyptian market and Korean companies can contribute to improving the quality of medical services for Egyptian people. He said he would appreciate the strong support of the Health Ministry so Korean companies can have more opportunities in accessing the market.