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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 March 2000 Issue No. 473 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 March 2000 Issue No. 473
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Egypt-US task force
AN EGYPTIAN-AMERICAN electronic commerce task force will be launched in Washington later this month. The joint announcement was made at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week by Youssef Boutros-Ghali, minister of economy and foreign trade; Ahmed Nazif, minister of communications and information technology; and Cheryl Shavers, US undersecretary for technology at the Department of Commerce.The decision to establish an e-commerce task force follows the signing of a joint statement on e-commerce in October between Boutros-Ghali and US Secretary of Commerce William Daley.
"Egypt and the United States have a mutual interest in developing and expanding their cooperation in the field of electronic commerce," Shavers said. "The objective is to provide new employment and export opportunities for Egyptian businesses and expand the marketplace for American Information Technology [IT] businesses."
Shavers arrived in Cairo earlier this week to co-chair a meeting of the Subcommittee on Technology, which is part of the Gore-Mubarak Partnership for Economic Growth and Development.
An Egyptian e-commerce business group is presently touring the US to visit American businesses and government agencies dealing with e-commerce technology to discuss possible cooperation in this field.
End of the tale
THE government, in concert with the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr, has begun reimbursing some LE1.4 billion to depositors making claims on 11 money investment companies, writes Mona El-Fiqi.The step aims at ending the long-standing problem of thousands of depositors who lost money estimated at over LE1 billion following the collapse in the late eighties of the money investment companies.
The investment companies had been bomborded with claims from investors demanding their deposits when the government issued directives restricting the activities of these companies. The government alleged that they were diverting deposits away from the regular banking system .
In February the government announced it would begin distributing the first 10 per cent installment on deposits this month.
The assets of the failed companies, which are estimated at LE400 million, are to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Public Enterprise Ministry in preparation for their sale. The government has also guaranteed a LE 1 billion deposit, to be split among the two banks, to be used as collateral for loans extended to depositors during the interim period.
The interests of the five year deposit, along with the proceeds of the companies' sale, will eventually cover 90 per cent of debts owed to investors.
NBE will be reimbursing investors of the largest company, El-Rayyan, which has liabilities of LE 740 million. The remaining LE 270 million, owed by the ten other companies, will be reimbursed by Banque Misr.
The decision has left depositors optimistic. Zeinab Mohamed, one of El-Rayan's depositors who has already received ten per cent of her deposit since the government began reimbursing this month, said she did not imagine that the repayment process would be "so easy". She said that she received the sum "after less than one hour's wait" at the bank.
CD Egypt
MICROSOFT Egypt, an affiliate of the American software giant Microsoft, is launching the new Windows 2000 programme on locally manufactured compact discs (CDs).The programme had made its debut in global markets last week. Microsoft Egypt representatives said that the Middle East Media Production Company (MEM), a private sector company, has been awarded a license to be the authorised Microsoft CD manufacturer which will undertake compact disc replication and packaging for the Middle East and African markets.
The LE10 million factory which was inaugurated in the industrial complex in 10 Ramadan City last week will start production with a monthly output of 480,000 CDs. Company representatives say production will be expanded to double that figure as the market grows.
The new production line provides "a good opportunity to increase the Egyptian presence in international markets by producing high quality, secure CDs that adhere to rigorous standards," Microsoft Egypt' sales manager Ehab Abdel- Aziz told Al-Ahram Weekly. Another advantage of producing CDs locally rather than importing them, according to MEM chairman Amr Baghdadi, is that "problems with customs... will be avoided".
Clearing the fog
PROPOSALS to amend the Investment Guarantee and Incentives Law came under scrutiny recently at a symposium organised by the Business Law Forum, in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation in Egypt.Ziad Bahaaeddin, legal advisor to the minister of economy and external trade, said the proposed amendments were intended to broaden the number and type of projects benefiting from the law to include the IT, transport, storage and petroleum sectors and financial services. The government had announced that it will be submitting the amendments to the People's Assembly, but had not determined when.
Bahaaeddin said the amendments, in addition to redefining the kinds of projects granted Investment Law Status, would also close a loop-hole in the current law that allows investors to wind down businesses at the end of the tax holiday period only to register them again as new investments and thus qualify for the same tax breaks.
Some of the projects eligible for exemption under the investment law will include manufacturing industrial components, equipment, production lines, solar and wind electricity- generating stations, and information technology projects.
Boost to business
AN Egyptian-German business council was established during German President Johannes Rau's visit to Egypt recently. The council, headed by chairman of the Arab Contractors Company Ismail Osman, includes 30 members from each side. Among its tasks will be the development of bilateral trade.Germany is the second largest exporter to Egypt after the United States. Among its main exports to Egypt are machinery, cars, electrical equipment and chemical products. German investments in Egypt in 1999 were mainly in the automobile, fertiliser and telecommunications sectors.
Egyptian exports to Germany include cotton garments and yarns, food products, fuel and oils.
Osman said he hoped the new council would strive to attract more direct investments from Germany and facilitate the transfer of German technology to Egypt.
Klaus Linnebach, chairman of the council's German side, invited Egyptian businessmen to take German partners. "Germany has 3.2 million small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These employ approximately 20 million individuals who represent 68 per cent of Germany's total workforce and contribute 53 per cent of GDP," said Linnebach. He added, "It has become necessary for these SMEs to look abroad for partners in order to compete in the global market."
Renewed splendour
PLANS are under way to restore the old San Stefano hotel on Alexandria's seafront to its former splendour. The once luxurious hotel had been closed for 15 years before its demolition began recently.Last year, the government invited investors to bid for a project to demolish the old structure and redevelop the site. The company that won the bid, the Alexandria Real Estate Investment Company, a member of the Talaat Mustafa Group, recently revealed its plans.
The new edifice will be made up of several towers forming two crescents with their backs to each other and will house a five-star hotel, a four-star hotel, residential suites and 10 cinemas, in addition to a shopping mall, restaurants and parking space.
The project will cost LE1 billion, but the hotel will cover only 30 per cent of the 32,000 square metres of land on which the old hotel and its garden stood. Part of this land will be devoted to widening the adjacent main street so as not to disrupt local traffic flow, according to the builders.
