The Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) – in cooperation the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) and Korea Institute for International Economic Policy of the Republic of South Korea (KIEP) – held a seminar on Wednesday under the title ‘Egypt and Korea: Towards Enhancing Cooperation in Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises.’

The seminar was attended by executive director of MSMEDA Nevine Gamea, Egypt's Deputy Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs Hany Selim, South Korean ambassador to Egypt Yeocheol Yoon, and Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yun Kang-hyeon.

The seminar discussed the tools used to enhance Egyptian-Korean relations and the most important potential cooperation opportunities between the two sides to maximise mutual benefit, transfer of expertise and benefit from the Korean experience in the field of small, medium and micro enterprises (SME).

Yun started his first visit to Egypt on Tuesday, and it is scheduled to last till 21 June.

During the Korean deputy minister's visit he is set to have several meetings with Egyptian officials to discuss ways of enhancing the bilateral relations with a particular focus on economic and investment cooperation.

Ziad Abdel-Tawab, IDSC chairman, said in a statement that the Egyptian government's support for SMEs is in line with Egyptian national policy.

In the same context, Gamea stated that small and medium-sized enterprises are gaining more importance at both the global and local levels due to the influential aspects of these projects.

"These projects help in absorbing surplus labour and providing real job opportunities. Consequently, they assist in overcoming some economic and social problems, in addition to supporting the domestic output of countries, as well as supporting exports and attracting more foreign investment," Gamea said.

The seminar was attended by a wide number of concerned ministries and government agencies as well as experts, academics, researchers and specialists and representatives from the private sector from Egypt and Korea.