[EGYPT]Wishing for lasting peace in Korea

Egyptian ambassador to Korea

Egypt celebrates this year the 54th anniversary of its glorious Revolution, which dates back to July 23, 1952, a unique revolution which peacefully changed the way of life in Egypt, removed occupational forces from most of the Arab world, hoisted the banners of freedom and independence over territories of the so-called Third World and made the interests of the overwhelming majority the basis for government responsibility.

On this occasion, it is with great honor that I convey, on behalf of the president, the government and the people of Egypt, my warmest regards and best wishes to the president, the government and the people of the Republic of Korea. I would also like to express my gratitude for this opportunity to address the readers of The Korea Herald and our Korean friends.

Thousands of years ago, the Egyptian and Korean civilizations pioneered progress in their respective regions. Today, Egypt and Korea share the same position on many international issues. We strongly share the belief in free market economies, democratic values, human rights and fundamental freedoms. Both Egypt and Korea stand for peace and dialogue and reject force as a means to resolve international disputes. In this context, Egypt strongly supports the efforts of the Korean government to establish peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.

Egypt enjoys a deep-rooted civilization that began when ancient Egyptians established on the banks of the Nile River the oldest central state - the first political and administrative systems in the history of mankind. In Egypt, religions were revealed and prophets lived to sow the eternal values of tolerance and coexistence. It was the launching pad of movements of liberation and enlightenment throughout history and time.

The first voice proclaiming the oneness of God rang out of Egypt in 14th century B.C. through Akhnaton. Moses received the Ten Commandments in Egypt. When Christ was an infant, the holy family found haven in Egypt. And later, it was through Egypt that Christianity reached the rest of the world. Islam entered Egypt without conflict and many Egyptians embraced it as a religion of tolerance and peace, and it was during this era that the world`s first university, Al-Azhar, was established in Egypt.

In modern times, the world has derived from Egypt the institutions and modern administrative systems as well as the formulas for constitutions, parliaments, responsible governments and judicial authorities since the 19th century. Today, Egypt is in a new phase of political and democratic development, aiming to deepen democratic practice, enhancing freedom and laying down the state of law, institutions and respect of human rights.

Egypt is engaged in a rigorous process of domestic reform, a process that began many years ago, and is now accelerating. Our basic aim is to build a society that empowers its people, and offers opportunity to all. Egypt`s political reform program constitutes a core component of our comprehensive effort to improve the quality of life of our people. Our efforts continue to focus on opening up new opportunities for our citizens to improve their livelihood within a competitive global environment. In this, we seek to build on our numerous achievements in the areas of good governance, sustainable economic growth, education and health care.

On the regional level, Egypt continues to play a key role as a peacemaker in the Middle East. It has spared no effort to consolidate the peace process in the Middle East over the past years. We look forward with anticipation to the day when all outstanding core issues are resolved, thereby paving the way for the realization of our vision - a Middle East where all states bear equal responsibilities and are accorded equal rights, where the legitimate rights of all parties including the Palestinians are equally respected and guaranteed.

Africa has also been a main focus of Egyptian foreign policy since the 1952 Revolution, when Egypt mobilized its potentials for achieving liberation and independence of the African countries suffering under the yoke of colonization. Following independence of the African countries, Egypt intensified efforts to group the African countries into one body to serve the interests of the African people. The efforts resulted in the establishment of the Organization of African Unity in 1963, which has been recently replaced by the African Union. Since then, Egypt and other African nations have been working together to achieve the aspirations of the African people.

The Asian continent is a priority in Egypt`s foreign relations, as it ranks as the second commercial partner to Egypt after the European Union. Apart from the American investments in Egypt in the fields of oil and natural gas, the Asian investments, especially from India, Japan, China and Korea, are estimated to be double that of U.S. investments.

Bilateral relations between Egypt and Korea is high these days, since this year witnessed the historic visit of Roh Moo-hyun, president of the Republic of Korea, to Egypt last March. This visit was a real success and gave great momentum to cooperation between both countries. During this visit, eight agreements were signed in different fields and the fifth session of the Egyptian-Korean Business Council and the second session of the IT Joint Committee were held.

In light of the huge potentials of the Korean and Egyptian economies, and through cooperation with major Korean economic organizations such as KOTRA, KCCI, FKI, KITA, KOIMA and KOICA, among others, Egypt looks forward to increase its bilateral trade volume, which reached $908 million last year. It also looks to increase Korean investments in Egypt, which exceeded $600 million at the beginning of this year in the fields of oil, gas, petrochemicals, textiles, electronics, construction, automobiles and financial services.

The economic policy and business environment in Egypt offer investors a myriad of attractive opportunities. In addition, a stable macroeconomic environment, a liberalized trade atmosphere and convertible currency with full rights to affect all transfers abroad, are evidently featured in today`s Egypt. New set of government policies, investment laws and guarantees have been introduced with the purpose of fortifying and revitalizing the investment environment in Egypt.

Based on the talented and low-cost human resources in Egypt, investors have a unique opportunity to capture the 75 million person strong domestic market and a sizable portion of the lucrative regional market. Considering its geographical location, Egypt provide investors with an unparalleled platform for entering the Middle Eastern, African, European and Asian markets with equal ease.

Increasing the number of Korean tourists to Egypt is one of our priorities in dealing with Korea. The flow of Korean tourists to Egypt witnessed a steady increase from 22,000 in 2003 to 50,000 in 2005, and we are working toward doubling that figure in the near future.

In conclusion, I would like to express my sincere wishes for a bright future for the Republic of Korea and the establishment of lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

By Reda El-Taify