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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 June 2000 Issue No. 486 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 June 2000 Issue No. 486
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Raising the bar
By Aziza SamiIn order to promote exports, Egyptian products must begin to comply with international bar-code labelling regulations. Bar-codes, those curious vertical lines imprinted on packages, are designed to be read by laser scanners, facilitating the quick and efficient retrieval of data. By the year 2002, the codes are set to become a requisite condition for all goods entering the European and US markets. Currently, the Ministry of Economy and External Trade, the Centre for Export Development and the Authority for the Supervision of Imports and Exports are all actively promoting the technology.
Due to its utility in quality control, warehousing and retail, the technology has obvious business applications. Also aware that bar-coding can improve efficiency, two years ago the government began issuing bar-coded national personal identity cards. Symbol Technologies, a Silicon Valley firm whose founder invented the laser is collaborating with the government in the identity card programme.
Aside from the identity cards, Symbol is very interested in the heath care sector. Through an Egyptian partner, Gargour Technologies, the American firm is approaching Egyptian hospitals directly, rather than through the auspices of the Ministry of Health. Ideally, bar-coding would provide access to a patient's full medical record and via a wireless communication system this information would be available at any hospital anywhere.
The technology, nevertheless, may at times be too sophisticated for the Egyptian environment. Despite the government's realisation of the increasing importance of bar-coding, immature infra-structure conditions and a lack of public awareness are serious obstacles to full implementation. At the moment, even though most major department stores and supermarkets use bar-coding, experience has shown that shop personnel may sometimes refuse to use the technology. Yves Phares, managing director of Gargour Technologies, a supplier of software for wireless communications applications, told Al-Ahram Weekly that in one extreme case, the owner of a clothes shop bought the bar-coding hardware with no intention of actually using it. The merchant merely attached bar-coded labels to clothes "so as to give customers the impression that the apparel is imported."
Aware that technological sophistication is critical for future economic prosperity, the government is actively promoting the greater use of information technology in the school system. Yet in education as well, there are infrastructure obstacles. A good example of the promise and the problem is a school in Luxor participating in the Globe Project, sponsored by US Vice President Al Gore as part of the US-Egypt Partnership. The project is responsible for fostering greater access in Egyptian schools to computers and the Internet. The computers and user manuals of the Globe Project are donated through USAID. Unfortunately, in the Luxor school, the results have been frustrating. Students have been given hearsay knowledge of the IT world. They study the information revolution, but the new computers gather dust. The school only has a single telephone line in the school master's office. The pupils, therefore, have no Internet access. School sources said only the local city council has the power to authorise an additional line, but as yet has not done so. However positive the objectives of the Globe Project are, chronic infrastructure constraints have defeated good intentions. Presumably, the problem is not limited to that one school.
But despite the structural limitations of the Egyptian environment, IT companies are lured by the promise that, eventually, it will evolve into a lucrative market. According to David Copson, director of international distribution for Symbol, many within the IT sector see much opportunity to "vertically expand" into the Egyptian market. Copson says that Information Technology and Communications Minister Ahmed Nazif has been an active force in promoting foreign investment. The minister is described by Copson as having "a vision" of the economy of tomorrow. Nazif and others in the government realise that "we are on the verge of an IT explosion," Copson said.
Nevertheless, before Egypt can take advantage of future IT opportunities its infrastructure deficiencies must be addressed. But again, despite the impediments, international investors are interested in Egypt because of the size of its market, and its proximity to both the burgeoning Israeli IT sector and the oil-rich Gulf, which is also making IT inroads. "The city of Dubai, for instance, has been placed on line," said Copson. "And so the area has the potential to become an IT hub." Egypt has its eye on the same goal, and many foreign investors are banking that it can overcome its infra-structure difficulties.
