Maait: Egypt Keen to Attract More S.Korean Investments 

Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Saturday that Egypt is keen to attract more South Korean investments under presidential directives to stimulate the economy, and enhance relations between the two countries.

This came during a meeting between the minister and the South Korean ambassador to Cairo, Yoon Yu Chul, on the occasion of the end of his post in the country.

Maait expressed his appreciation for Yu-chul efforts, which contributed to laying the foundations of cooperation between the government's of both countries, including the opening new horizons for investment, as well as building bridges of effective communication between Korean investors and Egyptian officials, which helped overcome obstacles facing their investment projects in the country.

"We look forward to strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries and attracting more S. Korean investments to Egypt," Maait added, expressing his appreciation to the South Korean government, which supported the Egyptian efforts in facing the corona crisis with emergency assistance of about $200,000 to mitigate the economic and social impacts of the pandemic. 

He pointed out that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced, last April, to maintain positive estimates of the growth of the Egyptian economy during the current fiscal year at 2%, which is one of the highest growth rates in the region and emerging countries; despite lowering its estimates of global growth rates to negative; which indicates the ability of the Egyptian economy to deal positively with challenges and shocks of the pandemic.

Maait pointed out that the government is keen to modernize and automate the tax and customs systems to simplify procedures and facilitate the business community.

On his part, Yu-chul expressed his country's aspiration to strengthen economic cooperation with Egypt during the coming period, and increase investments, especially in light of the concrete efforts made by the Egyptian government to overcome the obstacles facing Korean investors, praising the facilitation of customs procedures and encouraging companies committed to the advantages of the "whitelist".

The whitelist contributes to simplifying procedures, reducing release time, and rationalizing customs clearance costs.

Meantime, President Sisi directed the Ministry of Finance to overcome any obstacles facing investors, which contribute to encouraging them to expand their activities, and attract new investments, especially in light of the global and Egyptian tendency to operate under the corona crisis; in a way that achieves a balance between preserving the health of citizens and managing the economy.