On Tuesday, the Minister of Finance Dr. Mohamed Maait participated in the celebration of the National Foundation Day of the Republic of Korea.
He also delivered a speech that shed light on the mutual ties between Egypt and Korea, praising their progress.
The full text of Maait's speech is as follows:
Excellencies and Distinguished attendees,
Good evening.(May the peace, blessings and mercy of God be upon you.)
First and foremost, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Ambassador KIM Yonghyon, the members of the Embassy, and the great Korean people on the occasion of National Foundation Day of the Republic of Korea. I wish your country continued progress and prosperity.
I would also like to express my gratitude to Mr. Ambassador for his gracious invitation to be a guest of honor at the National Foundation Day celebration of your friendly country. This is an event that I always eagerly attend, driven by my pride in the friendly relations between two countries and their peoples. the relationship between our two countries is deeply rooted, currently wonderful, and holds promise for the future.
Cairo is in the minds of Korean people with the “Cairo Declaration” issued on 27 November 1943, according to which Korea gained its independence after noble struggle of its people. Korean leaders also express their awareness of the importance of Egypt’s position and its pivotal role in the Middle East and Africa region as a force working to establish security, peace, stability and constructive cooperation for the benefit of all the peoples of the region and the world.
On the other hand, the Republic of Korea is in the minds of Egyptian people as an inspiring model of comprehensive development, economic and industrial progress.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Egyptian-Korean relations have witnessed major positive developments in recent years, and there were prominent milestones in the path of these relations that contributed to their development, most notably the historic visit of President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi to the Republic of Korea in March 2016, which led to the advancement of two countries’ relations to the level of “comprehensive strategic partnership” as well as signing large number of agreements and MOUs.
Also, the visit of President “Moon Jae-in” of the Republic of Korea to Egypt in January last year, 2022, was a milestone in the progress of bilateral relations, which was the first visit of Korean President to Egypt in 16 years. It had a great impact in strengthening economic relations between two countries and encouraging investments, trade exchange, technical cooperation, as well as political coordination and matching positions on current regional and global issues.
At the same time, we gratefully appreciate the decision of the Republic of Korea to consider Egypt as ODA priority partner country in the MENA region for the years 2021-2025. It is a decision that embodies the depth of relations and the common desire to continue development.
These efforts and continuous contacts between officials in two countries have yielded good results. The volume of trade last year(2022) exceeded 3 billion dollars, of which 1.7 billion dollars were Egyptian exports, which was a significant increase over previous years thanks to the increase in Egyptian natural gas exports.
Also, Egypt’s exports to South Korea during the first quarter of this year(2023) exceeded 240 million dollars.
On the other hand, Korean investments in Egypt reached more than 700 million dollars in 180 companies, most of them in vital industrial fields. All of them are successful models that achieve the interests of both parties and open the door for more Korean investors to come to Egypt.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This positive development of cooperative relations encourages us to look to the future with great confidence and hope.
We look forward to doubling Korean investments, benefiting from the positive circumstances that attracts investments in Egypt as a result of the great steps that have been taken to encourage investors, especially in the fields of infrastructure projects, urban developments, and the localization of advanced industries, electric car manufacturing sector, clean transportation, and renewable energy.
At the same time, we welcome the current increasing numbers of Korean tourists to Egypt, and we look forward to increasing these numbers and to encouraging Korean investments in the tourism sector in Egypt.
Lastly,
I congratulate you once again on your National Foundation Day, and on the steps of your people towards more progress and prosperity, wishing goodness and peace for your country as well as more steps of cooperation between us for the benefit of the two friendly peoples.
May the peace, blessings and mercy of God be upon you.
Thank you.
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