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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 April - 3 May 2000 Issue No. 479 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 April - 3 May 2000 Issue No. 479
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
Austrian ties
AN AUSTRIAN trade delegation, comprising representatives from the engineering, consulting, energy, infrastructure, environmental protection, water supply and waste water treatment sectors met with Egyptian officials last week to discuss enhanced cooperation.The event, reports Eman Youssef, which was organised by the commercial office of the Austrian Embassy in Cairo and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, aimed to build on bilateral trade which over the past five years has doubled to reach $150 million.
"The main aim of this trade mission is to forge individual contacts and introduce Austrian products to the Egyptian market," said Fritz Langer, director of the Middle East desk at the Austrian foreign trade department who headed the delegation. Modernisation of the infrastructure and the ongoing economic reform programme have been reflected in the increasingly positive results of the Egyptian private sector, said Langer. But Egyptian producers still have to conform to European standards if they are to be successful in Austrian markets, he added.
The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency discussed co-operating with the Austrian Company for Environmental Management and Engineering on several projects focusing on environment-friendly enterprises including recycling and energy conversion.
"Egypt could play an important role in strengthening relations between Austria and other African countries," said Peter Gropmuller, managing director of an engineering group specialised in energy, waste and engineering. His company, he said, was seeking partners in Egypt because of its pivotal economic position in the Middle East .
Future insurance
CARANA Corporation, a leading US-based international management consultancy firm with extensive privatisation experience, recently conducted a five-day workshop on the valuation of Egyptian insurance companies in Cairo.At the workshop American insurance experts joined senior Egyptian insurance managers from insurance companies and banks.
"A critical component of the success of any business venture is the enhancement of human resources. This workshop represents a serious attempt to professionally address management development in the Egyptian insurance sector in a practical way," said a senior USAID official.
According to Robert Wagner, managing director of the USAID-funded Privatisation Coordination Support Unit, managed by CARANA Corporation, "the insurance valuation workshop is a key event in supporting Egypt's growth into a globally competitive marketplace. Such development is absolutely critical to the improvement of the quality of life in Egypt, and to the broadening of that quality to all elements of society."
A narrow margin
THE SOUTH will never be fairly treated under the harsh terms of globalisation, but it could still have the chance to move a few steps ahead. This was the forecast made by Foreign Minister Amr Moussa at a lecture delivered at the Centre for the Study of the Developing Countries on Sunday. Dina Ezzat reports"It has become an accepted fact that [under the new world economy] the terms of fairness will not be applied to the interest of or in justice to the developing world," Moussa said. After all, "the current rules of the economic [game] were not the outcome of a South-North dialogue. This is strictly the dictate of the North, and we have to abide by it".
However, he added, "It is not a zero-sum game because the North will have to allow the South a certain margin for progress, or else it will be faced with a situation of [chaos] where the North will have to feed the South."
The Arab world and the Middle East, Moussa suggested, need to look at the successful Third World examples of East Asia and Latin America "where sustainable success was realised despite the difficult times that were eventually overcome".
And it is not only South-South cooperation -- essential as it may be -- that could help the developing countries to narrow the huge gap separating them from the developed world. The South should not overlook cooperation with the North within certain frameworks, suggested Moussa.
According to Moussa's argument the developed world is moving ahead anyway. The international political terms of reference are also being reconsidered. The South should not despair of injecting some fairness into the rules, but for this to happen, the South needs to acquire some economic strength, he said.
Dry port opens
THE Sixth of October for Storage and Distribution, the country's first dry port, was inaugurated this week, reports Sherine Nasr. Extending over six feddans and costing LE40 million, the area is intended to serve more than one thousand factories that already exist in one of Egypt's biggest industrial cities."The concept of dry ports is new to Egypt," said Hassan Youssef, the port manager. "A dry port offers all the facilities available in sea ports -- for both exporters and importers."
Hamburg Port Consultants, Europe's leading dry port managers, are partners in the project.
Storage and inspection of containers, as well as other procedures related to customs and duties, will all be carried out in the dry port. "This will save at least 30 to 40 per cent on the costs of logistic services, savings that will be passed on to consumers in lower production costs," said Youssef.
One of the advantages of the port is that imports and exports can be released on a weekly or even daily basis, meaning that customs expenses can be spread evenly over the financial year, and will not have to be paid in one bulk sum. "Car assembling companies and producers of electric equipment in particular will benefit from this option," explained Youssef.
The Sixth of October dry port will also serve investors in Greater Cairo, industrial zones in Fayoum and Beni Suef, and is strategically placed for the Cairo-oases railway which, in turn, is connected with the Delta rail-system. "This means that we have access to the main sea ports of Alexandria, Port Said and Suez," said Youssef.
Profitable strands
THE SAUDI-based Jehan Group, a petrochemicals holding company, has concluded an agreement to establish a joint venture, the Saudi-Egyptian Petrochemical company (SEPCO), which will produce polyester at El-Ameriya in Alexandria. The $650 million venture is scheduled to start production in 2003.With an annual capacity of 300 thousand tons the new plant will be the biggest polyester producer in the Middle East. It will also save the local textile industry the $200 million worth of hard currency it spends annually on importing polyester fibres.
Arthur Andersen, SEPCO's corporate finance adviser, estimate that the project will sell a $450 million worth of polyester fibres, 30 per cent as exports.
Swift to roost
NTER-BANK transfers should take a matter of minutes, rather than days, now that 47 Egyptian banks have become members of Societe Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT).SWIFT is a non-profit organisation servicing its share-holder banks. It was initiated in 1973 by 239 banks from 15 countries. Banks join the organisation by purchasing a nominal share-holding, which can be increased the more messages they send.
SWIFT has also assisted the Egyptian Central Bank (CBE) in setting up an electronic clearing system for banks operating in Egypt.
