South Korea and Egypt Upgrade Ties to Strategic Partnership, Open Trade Agreement Talks
Presidents Lee Jae Myung and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi signed or revised 12 agreements in Seoul, building on a defense relationship centered on K9 howitzers and aiming to widen it into trade, energy and shipbuilding.
SEOUL, South Korea and Egypt have upgraded their bilateral relations to a strategic partnership and formally launched negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Seoul said on Thursday. The decisions followed summit talks in Seoul between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The upgrade matters because it pairs a higher diplomatic status with a concrete trade negotiation, something a ceremonial upgrade does not always include.
Speaking at a joint press conference on October 8, Lee said the two sides had i...