 Today on the Our Ambassador series we're joined by Ralph King, Australia's Ambassador to Egypt. Thanks very much for speaking to us Ralph. Thank you for having me. Now these are fascinating times to be Australia's Ambassador to Egypt. What are the major challenges you face and how is the political situation there affecting your work? Well you're right, they're very fascinating times and I feel very privileged to be part of them. Egypt has had its share over the times of dramatic moments because of its geography, because of history. But these are momentous and how they affect us, well obviously as a strong friend of Egypt, as a country with relations that go back over 60 years, we wish for the speediest possible and transition to an inclusive democracy as possible. On a personal level, as an operational level, naturally the disorder has affected the way we do things, the way families live. And I know Australians and Egypt follow these things very closely as Egyptians around the world do and it's been very disconcerting for them, albeit possibly hopeful too. And one way we've seen this affecting our relations or the way work we do is the drop in tourism for example. It's less than half it was, about 30,000 a year and that can only increase and therefore the country can only benefit from the increase when things return to normal. There's a degree of stability and countries can, in good conscience, advise their citizens that it's safe to travel again. Things have begun to improve significantly. Of course there's a long democratic road map in train now. You've mentioned obviously tourism and security being affected. How is the situation in Egypt affecting our trade relationship? There's no doubt the upheaval of the last two and a half years has had an effect on trade and investment flows. As regards our own trade too, it's somewhat underdone, you'd have to say that. There's only about $560 million, which for a country of 84 million people is fairly little so we think there's a lot more to be done. We're working with business, with other government agencies and with our Egyptian counterparts here to improve it. Ultimately there's only so much governments can do to build trade or to create investment. There's a private sector decision but we're working to help it get it done and to get those numbers up. You're also accredited as Australia's representative to the Arab League. What form does that engagement take? Yes, I'm actually the first Australian ambassador to be formally accredited. The Arab League as you would know is a very important regional body, headquartered in Cairo and over the last years has played a major role in regional and international security issues. We had senior officials talks last year which we could engage on many important subjects including of course Syria, which is a huge tragedy. Now Australia's been giving humanitarian aid over $100 million to help those most directly affected by the war displaced into neighbouring countries for example. Ultimately it's a political solution, it's the only way you can solve this crisis. Changing the subject slightly, of course there are strong historical links between Australia and Egypt. Can you tell us a little bit about that history? You're right, there are very strong historical links and it goes back to seeing that as simple as the Suez Canal that so many Australians have passed in both directions through which so much trade continues to pass. Now in the Gallipoli campaign the Anzac troops went through the canal to do their pre-deployment training. They recuperated in Egypt. Then more recently in the Second World War there was extensive fighting there. In fact last year we had a beautifully organised commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the North Africa campaign which a significant number of veterans attended. Very worthwhile, very moving. And of course today you have something like I think 40,000 Australians of Egyptian origin living in Australia and about 3,000 in Cairo. Could I also just here put in the plug for our smart traveller registration? We only have a proportion of those estimated 3,000 registered. It's very helpful if you do go to smarttraveller.gov.au so that we can send you information and warnings if need be. You've been in Egypt now for over 18 months but looking ahead to the rest of your term what are your hopes and priorities for the embassy's work? I think first and foremost I think Australians of Egyptian origin and Egyptians everywhere would agree that we want a speedy transition to an inclusive democracy. That's what the country needs and what it deserves. As an embassy we have priorities. Now we think as I said before the trade relationship is under done. I'd like to work with business to do that. I know the Egyptian embassy here is similarly preoccupied. In short we're like the place to become once again somewhere that people feel completely safe in visiting. There's more tourists coming. It is a beautiful place. There's so much to see there and that's what we'll be working towards. You are of course not just Australia's ambassador to Egypt. You're also accredited to some other countries in the region. How does that work in practice? In practice occasionally it's difficult. Of course we are accredited as you say to others. We're accredited to Sudan, Eritrea and Syria. Now we try and visit as often as possible. Syria of course is an exception for obvious reasons we can't go there. But for example to Esmar and Khartoum. Especially in the context of our work on the Security Council. It's very important to follow developments there. Now we don't always have, as you know, we don't always see eye to eye on things. But it's important to convey those messages when we can.