Trade exchange between Egypt, South Korea hits $1.59B in 2019

CAIRO -  6 October 2020: Trade exchange between Egypt and South Korea reached $1.59 billion during 2019, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The Ministry revealed that the most important terms of trade exchange included engineering and electronic goods, furniture, ready-made clothes, chemical products, fertilizers and medical industries.

Minister of Trade and Industry Nevein Gamea held a meeting with the new Ambassador to Egypt, Hong Jin-wook, to discuss the future of the economic relationship between both countries and ways to develop industrial and trade cooperation, in addition to discuss files of mutual interest for both countries.

Gamea described the Korean investment in Egypt by diversified and spread, pointing out to the government’s looking forward to deepening the cooperation and expertise exchange with South Korea and transferring them to the Egyptian Industry. “This will enhance the mutual economic cooperation between countries.”

“Electronic trade is of great importance during the current stage due to its main role in increasing trade relations between Egypt and Korea especially in light of the spread of coronavirus,” she said, describing it as a fertile field for micro, small and medium enterprises.

The minister said that the ministry is keen to benefit from the experience adopted by the Korean government to link and network small Korean companies with their counterparts from large companies, which contributed to creating job opportunities and increasing the dependence of major Korean companies on local production requirements.

She added that the Korean investments in Egypt amounted to about $570 million in 181 projects in the fields of industry, services, construction, communications, information technology, tourism and agriculture.

 For his part, Hong Jin-wook affirmed his country's keenness to enhance economic, commercial, industrial and investment cooperation with Egypt during the next stage, noting that Korean companies view the Egyptian market as one of the most important investment destinations in the Middle East and Africa.

Jin-wook praised the efforts made by the Egyptian government to resist the spread of the new Coronavirus, especially with regard to supporting the Egyptian economy, manufacturers and exporters, as well as maintaining employment and operating rates within the industrial sector, stressing that all international indicators indicate that the Egyptian economy is moving in the right direction, which will contribute to attracting more Korean companies to work in the Egyptian market.