 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Exports rising
EGYPTIAN exports performed well during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. According to reports by Egyptian commercial representation offices, exports to the UK increased by 50 per cent, while those to the United States registered a 46 per cent increase, to Japan 14 per cent. Exports to Algeria and Brazil soared by more than 200 per cent compared to 1999.This growth has been attributed to better marketing and an increased output of non-traditional goods such as ceramic, marble and granite tiles, construction materials, engineering products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as well as aluminum, iron and steel products.
Aim for the Finnish line
A REPRESENTATIVE of the government of Finland was recently in Egypt to set the stage for future cooperation between Finnish and Egyptian businessmen.During his two-week visit, Mohamed Hemed, Finnish counsellor for Arab-Finnish economic relations, initiated contacts with potential Egyptian partners for Finnish businessmen.
"We are looking for businesses [that] would like to work and develop with us as partners, cooperating for mutual benefit," said Hemed. He pointed out that tourism tops the agenda of Finnish businessmen. "They want to open new markets in the Middle East now that European markets have been fully accessed," he said, adding that "Finnish businessmen could also help in developing production systems in some Egyptian factories."
Hemed announced two upcoming events designed to boost Egyptian-Finnish trade and investment: a delegation of Finnish businessmen is scheduled to visit Egypt next October while for the first time a conference will be held for both Arab and Finnish businessmen in Varkaus at the beginning of 2001.
While Finnish exports to Egypt are estimated at $1 billion there are no available figures for Egyptian exports to Finland. Electronics, wood industries, locking systems and gas stations are among Finland's leading exports to Egypt.
Time to plant
A CONTRACT has been signed between GASCO, Egypt's national producer, processor and distributor of gas products, and YOKOGAWA Marex Technology Ltd, a British company, under which GASCO will install a state-of-the-art integrated plant information system (IPIS) using YOKOGAWA's expertise in system integration applications.The IPIS, which will be installed in GASCO's plant in Ameriya, will provide a fully networked computer system giving managers and engineers information on the real-time performance of the plant.
"This initiative is in accordance with the Egyptian government's strategy to benefit from IT. This step will provide us with an opportunity to improve the levels of our service and to gain a global competitive advantage," said Mustafa Sarhank, a member of GASCO's board of directors.
All wired up
LUCENT Technologies, the US business software company, recently announced the establishment of a wireless software development, technical support and training centre in Maadi. The $10 million project is the fruit of the efforts of the Egyptian-US presidents' council and is part of the plan of the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology to modernise Egypt's telecommunication industry.Tareq El-Hemaili, Lucent Egypt managing director, said the main focus of the centre will be developing software for wireless technology as well as other projects related to data networking and the Internet.
"The centre will form an integral part of Lucent's global software development programme," said Murad Takla, director of the software development centre. "Teams from around the world will collaborate on the design and integration of the telecommunication equipment."
The new centre will initially employ 25 software engineers with an expansion potential of 100-200 engineers within the next two years. "Rather than looking for jobs abroad, talented engineers will be able to find good job opportunities at the centre," said El-Hemaili.
