South Korea shows appetite to expand investments in Egyptian market – minister

Egypt is looking to open up new investment horizons with South Korea with a special focus on the development and technology and digital transformation sectors, Egyptian Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said.

Egypt is paying significant attention to the education and health sectors as being key pillars to build Egyptian human capacities, Maait added.

He made his comments during a meeting held Tuesday with Ambassador of South Korea in Egypt Hong Jin-wook to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries.

Egypt is eager to increase foreign investments in the domestic market, especially Korean ventures, through introducing more incentives and eliminating barriers investors may face, he said.

The  such incentives are expected to spur foreign investors to expand their productive activities and provide new job opportunities.

During the meeting, Maait highlighted Egypt’s economic reform programme and its role in enhancing the structure of the Egyptian economy, saying it helped Egypt to be the only country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to keep its credit rating and stable outlook as attested by Fitch and Standard and Poor’s credit rating institutions, while other international institutions expect Egypt’s economic growth to soon return to 6.5 percent.

Ambassador Jin-wook praised Egypt’s efforts regarding reducing tax and customs barriers that Korean investors face in the domestic market, as well as Egypt’s economic reforms that have helped the country deal with the Covid-19 successfully.

He added that South Korea is on hand to extend the required technical experience to Egypt for scaling up e-commerce in the domestic market.