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| President Park Geun-hye speaks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during a summit held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Tuesday. / Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
NEW YORK ― President Park Geun-hye held three summit meetings in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly to discuss ways to promote bilateral economic cooperation, Tuesday (local time).
Park, who arrived in the United States on Monday following a three-day state visit to Canada, began her first meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, followed by a summit with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Later in the day, she also sat down with Spain's King Felipe VI.
During the first summit, the two state leaders mentioned the bilateral cooperative relations that Korea and Egypt have enjoyed since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1995, and then went on to talk about the participation of Korean companies in Egypt's large-scale economic projects.
They also discussed ways to improve bilateral economic cooperation.
The Egyptian President asked Park to make a state visit to his country as soon as possible, while Park invited al-Sisi to Korea next year to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.
Park also expressed her gratitude to the Egyptian government for its quick response to an attack on a bus that killed four people, including three Koreans, near an Egyptian border crossing with Israel in South Sinai. She asked al-Sisi to continue to pay attention to the safety of Koreans there.
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| President Park Geun-hye shakes hands with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ahead of a summit held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Tuesday. / Yonhap |
In the Korea-Uganda meeting, Park and Museveni agreed to work together to strengthen the partnership between the two countries, saying that bilateral relations had grown stronger since their first meeting in Seoul in May 2013. Last year's meeting with Museveni was Park's first summit at home since taking office, underscoring the importance she attaches to bolstering ties with resources-rich Africa.
With Korea emerging as Uganda's major trade partner on the strength of increasing imports from the African nation, Park said that the government will encourage Korean businesses to take part in Uganda's national projects, especially projects to modernize the country's infrastructure.
Uganda's economy has grown an average of 7 percent annually over the past decade, as the country has gained political stability since Museveni came to power in 1986. It has also emerged as a resources power recently, with the discovery of oil reserves in the western part of the country.
Korean companies have been trying to take part in road, power plant and other infrastructure projects there ― for example, Hyundai Engineering and Construction has signed a contract to build a new bridge across the Nile River.
Museveni asked Korean companies to also enter its agricultural processing and mineral resources industries.
Park and Felipe VI discussed ways for companies in both countries to work together to advance into markets in the Middle East, Asia, and Central and South America.
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