Chairman Eun Song-soo of the Import and Export Bank of Korea(Korea Eximbank),left, beams after signing an EDCF loan agreement with Chairman Tarek Gamal El-Din Galal of the Egyptian Authority for Tunnels on Aug. 28 at Korea Eximbank’s Seoul head office in Seoul. (Photo: Korea Eximbank)

Chairman Eun Sung-soo of the Export and Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) signed an agreement on Aug. 29 with Chairman Tarek Gamal El-Din Galal of the Egyptian Authority for Tunnels to provide $282 million in loans to finance the imports of Korean-made subway trains from Korea.

The Egyptian subway authority will import 256 subway cars with the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) loan from Hyundai Rotem to be run on its No. 3 subway in Cairo, Egypt.

The Egyptian tunnel authority needs a total of 512 subway cars, but will split the purchase among the subway car makers from Korea and France.
Korea Eximbank proposed the loan to help Hyundai Rotem win the bid by beating a French competitor with better terms.

A total of 243 million euro will come from the EDCF and another 74.8 million euro from the export fund, which was enough to turn back the bidding to the starting point and split the orders evenly between the two bidders.

The deal is considered important as some 80 Korean firms, both small and medium in size, might be involved with Hyundai Rotem with the support from Korea Eximbank securing a base to enter the subway markets in the Middle East and Africa.

Chairman Eun said Korea Eximbank will not spare maximum efforts to provide the mixed package financial support connected with the EDCF so that the Korean firms would win high-value added large-scale infrastructure projects overseas.

EDCF has steadily continued to increase its ODA and successfully carried out major tasks to enhance development effectiveness.

By doing so, it aims at meeting the rapidly growing development demands of developing countries in alignment with the recent international discussions on development that stress the importance of eradicating poverty through economic growth.

According to its objective of promoting the economic development of partner countries and building mutual cooperation, EDCF is dedicated to providing support for developing countries to build infrastructure to achieve sustainable growth.

To be more effective in its efforts, EDCF has been diversifying development resources and support programs. In particular, it has developed support plans by region/country to enhance aid efficiency and implement tailor-made support programs.

It also seeks to enhance development effectiveness based on coordinated efforts with other Korean and international aid institutions while increasingly taking a leading role in international development cooperation.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea provides loan and guarantee programs to support Korean companies that conduct business internationally. Its primary services include export finance, trade finance, and guarantee programs structured to meet the needs of clients.

The company also offers overseas investment finance, import finance, and financial advisory and arranging services for exploiting business opportunities. In addition, it operates government-entrusted funds, which include the Economic Development Cooperation Fund and the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund.

The company’s loan products include export-related loans consisting of export promotion loans, growth, project, and facilitation loans; import-related loans comprising import and import facilitation loans; and overseas business-related loans, such as overseas investment, project, business, and business facilitation loans, as well as interbank credit facility extended to foreign banks to serve Korean exporters and Korean businesses overseas.

As of December 31, 2017, it operated 10 domestic branches, 3 domestic offices, and 24 overseas offices. The Export-Import Bank of Korea was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.