Egypt and South Korea begin official free trade talks

Egypt and South Korea have begun official negotiations on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) as the two nations seek to upgrade their trade ties.

“We are elevating our bilateral relations to a strategic partnership,” the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported President Lee Jae Myung as saying.

The expected timeframe to complete the talks was not provided.

The Cepa is expected to boost bilateral trade, which fell almost 9 percent year on year to $640 million in the first half of 2026, Egypt’s state information service reported.

South Korean investments in Egypt have increased ninefold to $736 million in the first half of 2025/2026, data released by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics showed.

Lee and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi signed or revised 12 memorandums of understanding covering economic, industrial, energy, technological and cultural exchanges.

They agreed to expand cooperation in trade, defense, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity and other areas, the report said.

This is El-Sisi’s first visit to South Korea since 2016. The leaders last met in November during Lee’s visit to Cairo.

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