28 Dec. 2000 - 3 Jan. 2001
Issue No.514
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Dec. 2000 - 3 Jan. 2001 Issue No.514 |
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Revitalising national industry
On 14 December, President Hosni Mubarak issued a presidential decree establishing mechanisms for the industrial modernisation programme. The decree stipulated that four entities shall be created for its implementation:
1. The Industrial Modernisation Board, headed by the minister of industry, and including representatives from the ministries of international cooperation, trade, finance and public sector. Six private sector businessmen and two university professors will also be present on the board.
2. The Industrial Modernisation Centre (IMC), which is the executive body for the programme. The general director and eight other directors of the IMC will be recruited internationally. The IMC director was nominated by the minister of industry approximately a year ago.
3. The IMC Consultancy Council, which will be headed by the minister of industry and made up of members with an industrial or economic development background.
4. The Interim Committee, is composed of the members of the board of directors with an additional member to represent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The mandate of the Interim Committee is to take the necessary measures to establish the executive body for the programme. It will be dissolved the day it creates the IMC.
But what is the industry modernisation programme? This programme is based on three dimensions:
The first dimension, taking as its focus individual firms, is made up of three stages:
1. assessing the position of these firms in the market and proposing immediate action to improve this position. This is done at virtually no cost to the firms.
2. studying, if necessary, how to modernise the firms. Such studies are financed in part by the company owner.
3. financing the required equipment and machinery through loans offered by the European Investment Bank to the Egyptian banking sector.
The second dimension deals with industrial organisations, such as the businessmen's association and the Egyptian Federation of Industries, with the aim of activating their involvement and cooperation to secure the modernisation of Egyptian industry.
The third dimension deals with policies required to support industry process, including those to be adopted by the government and industrial entities.
Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, assistant to the minister of foreign affairs and head of the Egypt-EU Partnership Unit, speaking on the Industry Modernisation Programme conceptualised within the framework of the impending Egypt-EU partnership agreement.
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