Cairo: Engineer Hassan El-Khateeb, the Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, welcomed Ambassador Kim Yong-hyun of the Republic of Korea in Cairo and his accompanying delegation. The meeting addressed ways to strengthen economic relations between the two countries and the potential for increasing Korean investments in the Egyptian market. Both sides also reviewed several topics of mutual interest.
According to State Information Service Egypt, the two parties affirmed that Egypt and South Korea are linked by close bilateral relations based on a long history of joint cooperation in various fields and at all levels. They also stressed the importance of enhancing joint efforts to develop and promote economic cooperation in trade and investment.
The Minister highlighted the importance of achieving integration between investment and foreign trade, which contributes to enhancing the country's economic growth. He pointed out the government's commitment to attracting major Korean companies to invest in the Egyptian market, benefiting from the ongoing development of infrastructure and the access to a large number of foreign markets, thanks to free and preferential trade agreements between Egypt and many countries and major regional and global economic blocs.
El-Khateeb stated that the Egyptian market possesses many distinctive investment components, including Egypt's unique geographical location, as well as the competitiveness of the Egyptian market regarding the availability of land and industrial zones, highly skilled engineers, and trained labour that meets global requirements, alongside competitive wages. The Minister reviewed the government's efforts to launch a comprehensive electronic platform aimed at facilitating procedures and easing the process for investors, noting that the platform will connect various government entities and provide digital services to investors, thereby reducing time and costs while increasing transparency and efficiency.
El-Khateeb explained that the government has succeeded in reducing the customs clearance time for goods and products, with a target to reach a customs clearance time of just two days, which contributes to increasing the speed of trade flow. For his part, Ambassador Kim Yong-hyun of the Republic of Korea in Cairo praised the Egyptian government's efforts aimed at enhancing exports and increasing investments, highlighting the successes achieved by major Korean companies such as Samsung and LG in the Egyptian market.
He extended an official invitation to Engineer Hassan El-Khateeb, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, to visit the Republic of Korea at the earliest opportunity, with the aim of exchanging experiences and learning about the leading Korean practices in investment and manufacturing, and enhancing joint coordination to advance economic cooperation to broader horizons.