Ambassador of Korea and Minister of Local Development discuss how to boost bilateral relations

Ashraf AboArafe

His Excellency the Korean Ambassador, Mr. Hong Jin-wook, met with His Excellency the Minister of Local Development, Major General Hisham Amna, on Wednesday, October 19, to congratulate him on his appointment as Minister of Local Development, and the two sides exchanged their views on ways to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Ambassador Hong expressed his hope that this meeting would be starting point to increase discussions on bilateral cooperation between the two countries to achieve local development. And He explained that his country chose Egypt as priority ODA partner from 2021 to 2025, noting that the memorandum of understanding for cooperation in local development that was concluded during the visit of His Excellency Major General Hisham to Korea to attend the General Assembly UCLG held in Daejeon will be an important basis for cooperation between the two countries in the field of local development. He added that the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Egypt will continue to communicate with the Egyptian central government and Egyptian municipalities to deepen bilateral cooperation in local development by various means, such as Ambassador Hong’s previous several visits to southern Egypt (Aswan) in March, South Sinai (Sharm el-Sheikh and Dahab) in June and upper Egypt (Assiut, Minya, Sohag) in September.

For his part, Major General Hisham Amna expressed his gratitude for Ambassador Hong’s efforts in communicating with the Egyptian municipalities, noting that he had made fruitful achievements for cooperation in local development during his recent visit to Korea, including the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding, and is looking forward to expanding effective cooperation in local development. Minister Hisham added that he hopes to strengthen cooperation between the two countries through the “Saemaul Undong(New Village Movement) Global Project” as Egypt is also implementing the presidential initiative “Decent Life Initiative “.

Ambassador Hong and Major General Hisham agreed to continue their work to strengthen cooperation between the two countries for local development and reviving its economy, and promised to keep close communication to find additional ways of cooperation.