seven years of his presidency. His visits were reciprocated by then North Korean foreign minister Kim Yong-nam in 2007.



Yong-nam was to later be named President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, a position he continues to hold.

Mubarak visited Pyongyang four times in the first seven years of his presidency

Under repressive regimes, friendly relations among the leadership is often an opportunity for business relations to flourish. Despite North Korea's status as a pariah state, Mubarak's welcoming attitude swiftly translated into Egyptian investments.

A year after Kim Yong-nam's visit to Cairo, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris established the first and only 3G mobile network in North Korea - Koryolink.



Sawiris retained a 75 percent ownership share in this company and had sold an estimated 800,000 subscriptions by 2011. Continuing to investin North Korea, he opened Orabank a year later.

The Sawiris clan is a family of four business tycoons with an estimated combined net worth of $36 billion, according to Forbes. Naguib, the second-eldest and most flamboyant of the Sawiris mogul sons, is known for his investments in telecommunications and media.





Naguib Sawiris stands hand in hand with late North Korean

Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un and Kim Yong-nam in 2011 [NCNA]

Naguib Sawiris became the single largest individual investor in North Korea, making Egypt the largest Middle Eastern investor there, second only to China internationally.

Naguib's younger brother, Nassef Sawiris, followed quickly in his big brother's footsteps. Nassef invested $115 million in North Korea through his corporation Orascom Construction Industries, retaining a 50 percent share in state-owned cement plant Sangwon Cement.



Nassef, however, quickly