Egypt in brief

Nehal Hanna

Nehal Hanna was born in Cairo and lived most of her life there; she attended Cairo University and studied pharmacology. After marrying her husband, she has accompanied him on all of his foreign postings, including Bern in Switzerland, Buenos Aires, Geneva, Beijing and finally Seoul in 2013. Shortly after arriving, Hanna was invited by Dr. Chang Yun-
keum, the director of Sookmyung Women’s University’s Institute of Leadership and General Education, to lecture courses on Egypt. Hanna said the experience, which led to an honorary professor title, was uniquely enriching.

Egyptian Ambassador to Korea Hany Moawad Selim

Born in Cairo, Hany Moawad Selim earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in political science from Cairo University and a Ph.D in international economics from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He started his diplomatic career at the Egyptian Embassy in Bern (1988-92) and has served as deputy chief of mission of the embassy in Buenos Aires (1994-99), in the permanent mission of Egypt to the UN in Geneva (2000-04), the deputy chief of mission of the embassy in Beijing (2006-10) and the Egyptian ambassador to Korea since October 2013.

Egypt in brief

Capital: Cairo

Major cities: Alexandria, Port Said, Luxor, Aswan

Official language: Arabic

Population: 89.5 million

Religions: Islam (majority), Christianity

Area: 387,048 square miles

Number of Korean expats: About 930 (2014)

Two decades of relations

The Egyptian Embassy in Seoul celebrated the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Korea in March. Both countries share excellent relations in all possible spheres of interaction, achieving more together than many other countries with longer relations.

Steady trade

The trade volume between Egypt and Korea reached approximately $2.5 billion in 2013, with Korean exports reaching some $1.5 billion and Egyptian exports amounting to $1 billion. Korean exports are mainly capital goods, such as automobiles, spare auto parts, iron products and electronic equipment. Egyptian exports include liquid natural gas, light oil, pulp sugar beet, marble, crystal, granite, ceramic and cotton.

Healthy investment

Around 75 Korean companies are investing and operating in Egypt, including LG Electronics, GS E&C, Samsung Electronics and SK E&C. Total investments amounted to $328.5 million in 2013, in various areas from automobiles and electronics to textiles, petroleum and gas.