South Korean President Moon Jae will leave Egypt today, Friday, after a tour of three Arab capitals – Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Cairo.
This was reported by the Nova news agency. On the first stop, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates signed new agreements, particularly an understanding for the sale of Korean medium-range surface-to-air missiles (M-Sam), a fact that indicates a flourishing cooperation between the two countries in the defense sector. The Emirates has been South Korea’s most important partner in the region since Seoul won a $20 billion contract in 2009 to build four nuclear reactors in Barakah. Subsequently, the two countries have signed several agreements to expand cooperation in all areas, especially technology. South Korea and Saudi Arabia signed 14 memoranda of understanding during Moon’s visit to diversify areas of cooperation into new areas such as industry, energy, health, medicine and hydrogen. Not only that. The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf talked about resuming negotiations to conclude a free trade agreement with South Korea. In Egypt, South Korea announced a loan to Cairo to contract South Korean companies for several projects over the next four years. The two countries signed an agreement to develop signaling systems in railways and an agreement last year on joint production of heavy weapons. According to Russian press reports, South Korea will also participate in infrastructure work at the Dabaa nuclear power plant in northern Egypt.
Egyptian General Sayed Ghoneim, head of the Institute for Global Security and Defense Affairs in the UAE, told “Agenzia Nova” that South Korea has become an important trade and economic partner for the UAE and Saudi Arabia and a strong competitor to Japan, China and Europe in the Gulf. “South Korea offers many opportunities to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, particularly in the areas of technology, health and industry, and outperforms its competitors because it has fewer bureaucratic restrictions, an issue that Japan suffers greatly from,” Ghoneim told “Nova.” “South Korea is working to exploit an important space left by the U.S. in the Gulf: Seoul has provided Saudi Arabia with air defense systems, military vehicles and other military systems that Riyadh has not been able to acquire from Washington and its Western allies,” Ghoneim said, adding that Washington does not mind the growing South Korean presence, both in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, “because it reduces Riyadh’s and Abu Dhabi’s dependence on China.”
“The U.S. does not have much objection to Saudi Arabia or the UAE acquiring weapons from South Korea instead of China or Russia, because Seoul is an important security partner for Washington,” Ghoneim said. South Korea also has interests in the Gulf in securing sea lanes and fighting piracy, but it has a positive neutrality between Iran and Arab countries. Seoul also sees Egypt as another arena for competition with China and Japan, and is motivated to work in the vast Egyptian market, which offers a large number of projects, a huge volume of investment and a population with very large purchasing power, accounting for nearly a third of the population of the rest of the Arab countries, according to the Egyptian general. “South Korea realizes the importance of Egyptian control of the Suez Canal, which connects Asia to Europe,” Ghoneim said, adding that Seoul “turned to Egypt after Cairo reduced its ties with North Korea, and Seoul wants to create an economic partnership with our country to ensure its distance from Pyongyang. South Korea has offered to be a technology exporter to Egypt and has already agreed to jointly produce some weapons.”