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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000 Issue No. 505 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000 Issue No. 505
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Opening shop in Berlin
By Shaimaa LabibA ONE-DAY seminar organised by the European Commission-funded European Information Correspondence Centre (EICC), in cooperation with the German Embassy in Cairo, was both informative and frank about business between Germany and Egypt.
In his address to attendees, Mathias von Polenz, commercial and economic counsellor at the German Embassy, summarised the recent business between the two countries. Last year German exports to Egypt amounted to 3,830 million Deutsch marks while Egypt's exports to Germany were valued at approximately 459 million Deutsch marks. Topping the list of Egyptian exports to Germany are cotton textiles, fuel and lubricating oils, metal alloys and fabrics other than cotton. Most prominent among German exports to Egypt are machinery, electrical appliances, motor vehicles and chemical products. Added to this, Polenz explained that Germany does business in Egypt through joint ventures and through licensing arrangements between German companies and Egyptian manufacturers.
With the aim of building on this fruitful cooperation, Polenz said that an office affiliated with the German Federal Agency of Foreign Information has been set up in Cairo. This office facilitates visits by German journalists to write investigative pieces on the economy to inform German investors about business opportunities in Egypt.
But the seminar went beyond promotion, analysing factors inhibiting bilateral investment as well. According to Manfred Pflueger, representative of Dresdner Bank's regional office in Egypt, his bank does not finance projects in Egypt because these yield only local revenues. "We cannot finance a project unless a percentage of its yields is in foreign revenues," he said. Currently, Dresdner conducts market research in Egypt to provide financial advice to German companies interested in penetrating the Egyptian market. It offers the same service to Egyptian companies looking for opportunities in Germany.
Udo Scherf, general manager of Infit, a joint venture which produces construction materials in Egypt, said that Egyptian exports to Germany have failed to achieve their full potential. Although Egyptian products are competitive due to their prices -- an advantage afforded by the low cost of labour -- their success is hampered because consumers abroad are "still not confident that they will get high quality products [from Egypt]."
Scherf suggested German consumers' confidence in Egyptian products might be increased by setting up projects in which a German partner assists in quality enhancement. Equally effective in this regard would be the obtaining of an International Standardisation Organisation [ISO] certificate which affirms the quality of products. "If you don't have an ISO certificate, then you don't exist," Scherf added.
Infit, which is 50 per cent owned by the German side, currently exports 15 per cent of its products. For the coming year, it has established an ambitious plan to double the volume of its exports.
For Egyptian businesses interested in partnerships with German businesses, the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce informs its 1,600 Egyptian members of international and local trade fairs taking place in Germany, said Mireille Nessim, head of its communications division. "We also help our members participate in these trade fairs by booking them space and informing them about the main German exhibitors," Nessim said.
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