Ancient Cradle Rises to Globalization
Egyptian Ambassador Reda El-Taify contributed the following article on the occasion of the 56th anniversary of Revolution Day which falls today. ― ED.
It gives me great pleasure and honor to address distinguished readers of The Korea Times for the third consecutive year on the occasion of the national day of Egypt.
This year, we celebrate the 56th anniversary of the July 23, 1952 Revolution that liberated the Egyptian people from the shackles of colonization and put in motion a set of events that have changed the face of history in the Middle East, the African continent and the Islamic world.
But first, I would like to seize this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for the Korean people for their warmth, kindness and hospitality that I personally felt during my three years stay here.
I hope this brief coverage provides the readers with information regarding recent developments in Egypt.
For the last few years, the pace of reform in Egypt has been accelerated to keep up with the global changes that the world is witnessing.
This acceleration has been translated into a comprehensive program that covered the political, social and economic aspects in an integrated fashion to provide a better life and a brighter future for Egyptians.
In implementing this program, our constitution has been amended and consequently our institutions are being reformed to promote the democratic process.
Here, we follow a path to guarantee that our reform is consistent with our culture and in line with the realities of our society.
The Egyptian government has also undertaken concrete steps to improve the business environment in order to encourage foreign investments, such as reducing tax burdens, providing clear and stable investment policies and regulations, and improving the interface between business and government.
I would like also to touch upon the Egyptian-Korean relations.
Indeed, the relations between Egypt and South Korea go back as far as 1963, when the first South Korean Consulate General was opened in Cairo.
The excellent political relations and the political will of both leaderships to further enhance our bilateral relations paved the way for major developments, particularly in the economic and cultural fields.
During the past few months, Seoul has received two ministerial visits from Egypt (minister of telecommunications and information technology and minister of state for administrative development), with more such high level visits expected during 2008.
Trade volume between Egypt and South Korea reached almost $1.4 billion during the period of January and May 2008, compared to only $855 million during the same period in 2007.
Indications point out that bilateral trade will most probably exceed an unprecedented $3 billion by the end of 2008.
On the other hand, the Korean investments in Egypt are far from our expectations.
There is great potential to increase these investments particularly in fields such as petrochemical industries, IT, tourism and textiles. Korean companies are invited to take advantage of the next generation of industrial complexes in Egypt.
I also seize this opportunity to invite Korean companies to establish a Korean industrial complex in Egypt; taking into consideration the comparative advantages Egypt offers to
foreign investors and following the example of several other countries.
The field of cultural cooperation is one of the most important and dynamic dimensions of our bilateral relations as both countries attach great importance to interactions and exchanges between their peoples.
This will help introduce each country's culture and civilization to the other.
The two countries concluded in 2007 an agreement extending the executive program for the cultural and scientific cooperation, which was signed in 1988.
Egypt has also actively participated in a series of cultural events in Korea, notably the Arab World Festival, which was held to mark the inauguration of the Korea Arab Society, the Nami Island Children's book fair, the Hi-Seoul festival.
The world-famous Egyptian archeologist and the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, Zahi Hawas, also paid a visit to South Korea in July.
Once again, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to The Korea Times and may we celebrate the Revolution Day next year with further stronger and more solid Egyptian-Korean relations.