South Korea and Egypt launch first CEPA talks with a North African country, expand eco-friendly shipbuilding cooperation

[Financial News]  
South Korea and Egypt have officially announced the launch of negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the first such negotiations involving a North African country. The two countries also agreed to expand cooperation in the shipbuilding industry, including eco-friendly ship repair and liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering.
On the 8th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on shipbuilding cooperation and announced the launch of CEPA negotiations at a Korea-Egypt summit held on the occasion of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s visit to South Korea, with both countries’ leaders in attendance.
A CEPA is a trade agreement that allows greater flexibility than existing free trade agreements (FTAs) in the degree of market opening and the areas of cooperation. The announcement is significant because these are South Korea’s first CEPA negotiations with a North African country.
Park Jeong-seong, head of trade negotiations, signed a joint declaration on the launch of CEPA negotiations with Mohamed Farid Saleh, Egypt’s minister of investment and trade. The two countries agreed to work together to hold formal negotiations as soon as possible.
In the shipbuilding sector, South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jeong-kwan and Egypt’s Minister of Industry Khaled Hashem signed an MOU on shipbuilding cooperation. The agreement calls for building eco-friendly shipbuilding infrastructure—including eco-friendly ship repair, training specialized personnel and LNG bunkering—in line with the Egyptian government’s “Suez Canal Green Strategy 2030.”
The government expects the cooperation to expand South Korean shipbuilders’ entry into Egypt’s shipbuilding and repair market, collaboration on building special-purpose vessels, and exports of shipbuilding equipment and materials.
Egypt, with a population of about 120 million, is a major African economy and a key logistics hub in the Middle East and North Africa, home to the Suez Canal. The government plans to use the CEPA to secure export footholds for South Korean companies and diversify supply chains.
Separately, Park met with key Egyptian ministers to review the business conditions and difficulties faced by companies operating in the local market, including home appliance and clothing companies. The government plans to activate a public-private cooperation framework to implement the shipbuilding MOU and accelerate the CEPA negotiations.

[email protected] Park Ji-young Reporter