Trade exchange between Egypt, NZ reaches $260mln by July 2022

Trade exchange between Egypt, NZ reaches $260mln by July 2022

Geographically, Egypt and New Zealand (NZ) are distant. It takes about 25 hours to fly to Wellington from Cairo. But the two countries have maintained good and cooperative relations since their official start in the mid-70s. This cooperation included Wellington’s participation in the Multinational Force and Observers in Sinai since 1982.

Daily News Egypt (DNE) met with Greg Lewis — NZ’s Ambassador in Cairo — to learn more about the relations between the two countries, areas of mutual cooperation, and to understand Lewis’ special relations with Egypt and its mangoes.

Let’s start with mangoes, tell us about your relationship with Egyptians and your love for the Egyptian Ismaili mango.

In terms of my relationship with Egypt, I’m on my third diplomatic assignment in Egypt. I was sent here from 2004 to 2005 to study Arabic. So that’s when I first came to Egypt. I then came back as the deputy chief of mission from 2009 to 2011.

Regarding mangoes, in 2020, I drove up to Ismailia to try the different types of mangoes there and I bought some as gifts for friends and colleagues and we decided to tweet about it, then the tweet went viral. Obviously, Egypt has amazing mangoes. It’s something which