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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 May 1999 Issue No. 430 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 May 1999 Issue No. 430
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Supplement Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Export boosting decrees
THE CABINET last week issued a series of decrees aimed at boosting exports. Most significant was the decision to transform the branches of the Nasr Company for Imports and Exports, a public sector company established in the 1960s, into permanent exhibit centres for Egyptian products in Africa and Europe where exporters can display their products free of charge. The need for venues to showcase export commodities has been stressed by Egyptian producers.A permanent free-of-charge exhibition displaying Egyptian products for export will also be established in the trade fair grounds at Nasr City. A database will be available on site to provide information related to international trade.
The Ministry of Trade and Supply will financially support and provide information to Egyptian marketing companies exporting to Russia and the rest of the new Commonwealth of Independent States as well as Africa.
The cabinet recommended that the banking sector facilitate the provision of funds to exporters by providing them with soft loans.
Egypt's implementation of its obligations as a party to the planned Arab Free Trade Area (AFTA) was also discussed by the cabinet. The AFTA is currently being formed.
A ministerial committee was created to define how Egypt should implement the different stages of tariff cuts on exports. This must be done in accordance with the executive programme of the Arab Economic Unity Council, an Arab League body which is overseeing the implementation of AFTA.
Debating new paradigms
EGYPT'S International Economic Forum is hosting Inaamul Haque of Pakistan, executive director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), on 24 May. Haque will address Forum members on "A New Paradigm of Development: the Comprehensive Development Framework".The Forum will also hold a workshop entitled "Egyptian-Czech Economic Relations", on 2 June, on the occasion of the scheduled visit to Cairo by Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Miroslav Gregr, who will be heading a business delegation. Senior Egyptian government officials and members of the business community have been invited to attend the workshop.
New head for AmCham
THE AMERICAN Chamber of Commerce in Cairo (AmCham) is scheduled to elect a new president on 31 May. The current president, Ahmed Shawki, managing partner of Mustafa Shawki and Co., Deloitte and Touche, will be stepping down after two years in office. Last week AmCham's nominating committee proposed Mohamed Mansour, president of the Mansour Group, as the new president. His nomination was uncontested.While in the process of changing leaders, AmCham inaugurated its new headquarters in Mohandessin last week. Valued at some LE20 million ($5.9 million), the eight-story building will house all of AmCham's operations. It contains staff offices and the various chamber departments.
Built with the financial assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the new headquarters include another USAID-funded project known as Business Link (Blink), which is designed to put AmCham and Egyptian business associations on the Internet, enabling them to conduct electronic commerce using the latest information technology.
Preparing for Y2K
A PROGRAMME designed to accelerate the capability of the Egyptian private sector to address the Y2K problem is co-sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Egyptian High Tech Association (EHITA). The programme, which started a year ago, has so far trained 70 engineers in different sectors of the economy to deal with Y2K issues. Due to time constraints, the memo of understanding covering the programme was only signed last week.The cooperating partners are represented by USAID Egypt Director Richard Brown and EHITA Chairman Mohamed El-Hamamsi.
Brown said Egypt's location in the centre of the Middle East qualifies it to play an important role in the region as a centre for information technology (IT), both software and hardware.
The training targets manufacturing, chemical, agricultural, bio-medical and pharmaceutical industries; health care and related services; and the general services sector including hotels and travel agencies in addition to EHITA members.
Under the slogan 'Moving Beyond Awareness into Action', the agreement allows both sides to provide basic Y2K planning, testing, and strategy development to trainees. The partners also are offering training to help Egyptian private businesses resolve their Y2K problems using Egyptian private sector resources. EHITA's role has been to identify the sectors which need this training, while USAID provided experts to do the training. By the time the programme ends next September, 150 engineers will have taken the course.
"Our argument is that the countries that have tried to live on tourism have lived well, but the countries that have gone into hi-tech have done extremely well, and we should really try to do that," asserted El-Hamamsi.
The Egyptian IT market, estimated to be worth only $300 million, is small, consisting mostly of imported hardware and software, but it is growing rapidly and the government could give a higher priority to IT development by creating a Ministry of Technology, El-Hamamsi said.
A non-governmental independent, non-profit professional association, EHITA was founded in 1997 by representatives of the 40 largest and most active companies operating in the field of electronics, communications, IT and integrated systems. Today, the association's 50 member companies include the branches of international companies such as IBM and NCR.
Training for the market
THE PRIVATE Sector Development Programme (PSDP), a European Union-funded project aimed at promoting the development of a market economy in Egypt, inaugurated a training centre in Agouza last week. The new 500-square-metre facility is part of the Management Development Centre for the Business Sector affiliated to the Ministry of Public Enterprise.The PSDP provides a wide range of services to the business sector, including training for different levels of management and business employees.
With the opening of the new centre, the PSDP is now able to boost its business training by offering additional courses which will be more cost-effective. Four hundred days of training are planned this year compared to 260 days of PSDP training programmes last year.
