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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 21 - 27 September 2000 Issue No. 500 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 21 - 27 September 2000 Issue No. 500
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Development Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Special Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Orascom's earnings
EGYPT'S largest private sector construction company, Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), announced that its income during the first half of 2000 was LE955.8 million. OCI's net income was also impressive at LE140.9 million. Partially fed by its capital gain of LE20.4 million obtained through selling some of its investments.The company's consolidated net income came from construction, building materials and construction of infrastructure. These contributed to net income by 55 per cent, 42 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.
OCI plans to hold an extraordinary general meeting this month to approve a LE750 million capital increase through issuing one free share for every four shares already owned.
IT training
LAST week, OMS, a specialised training company, and Microsoft Egypt announced their joint initiative to increase the number of trained and certified information technology (IT) personnel in the Egyptian labour market.The initiative, which will involve the implementation of two training programmes under the supervision of Microsoft, comes within the framework of the Egyptian government's plan to train 5,000 people annually in the IT field.
"These training programmes will allow the trainees to obtain Microsoft certificates that are internationally recognised," said Ahmed Qabil, OMS managing director.
Training programme courses designed by Microsoft are in the fields of system engineering and solution development.
To become a Microsoft Certified System Engineer, the trainee must attend seven courses followed by seven exams. For the designation of Microsoft Certified System Developer, a trainee takes six courses followed by a set of four exams. Courses can be paid for in monthly instalments.
"Our responsibility will not be limited to the completion of the training courses. We will help to obtain jobs for successful trainees by sending their CVs to IT companies," Qabil said.
Boosting traditional crafts
RECENTLY, a conference titled "Traditional crafts in the Arab world" was organised by the Social Fund for Development (SFD), in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Industry and Technological Development and the Arab Organisation for Technological Development and Mining.Conference participants conducted their work on the basis of their common view that traditional crafts constitute an integral part of the economies of several Arab states.
Mustafa El-Rifa'i, minister of industry and technological development, said, "This conference will help enable its participants to review closely traditional crafts in Arab states and determine what needs to be done to develop them."
He suggested that a database be created, comprising information provided by Arab ministries of industry. "This will enable Arab states to learn from each other and share experiences. It will also contribute to increasing trade and industrial integration among Arab states," El-Rifa'i said.
Participants in the conference got a chance to view samples of the traditional crafts of Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Palestine and Morocco in an exhibition held parallel to the conference.
According to Hussein El-Gammal, SFD's managing director, traditional crafts "need to be developed in such a way that would allow them to integrate modern technology to be able to compete with other kinds of crafts."
