Issue No. 611
Economy
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7 - 13 November 2002 Issue No. 611 Economy |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Italy clicks onto Egypt
Italian experts are considering using Egypt's IT sector as a springboard into the Middle East. Eman Youssef went to Milan for the second largest IT exhibition in the world
SMAU 2002, the 39th International Exhibition for Information and Communications Technology recently displayed wares from over 30 countries in Milan, a city which has taken the lead in Italy's flourishing Information Technology (IT) sector.
Click to view captionInternational exhibitions: opportunities for Egyptian IT companies Comprising 2,500 exhibitors, of whom 800 came from outside Italy, SMAU offered Egypt an excellent opportunity to show off its increasingly dynamic sector to operators interested in partnerships. The participating companies showcased the latest in IT technologies including hardware, software, multimedia, telecommunications, computers and networking services, according to Cristina Danelli, manager of SMAU's international operations department.
Egyptian IT companies attending the fair were supported by the Italian Trade Centre in Cairo, PROMOS; the special agency of the Milan Chamber of Commerce for international activities and the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade.
"About 450,000 visitors visited the exhibition, including many countries from the Middle East such as Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco," said Danelli.
As this exhibition is the most important IT fair in the world after CEBIT, the German international ICT fair, SMAU 2002 was attended by the Italian minister for telecommunications, Maurizi Gasparri and Riccardo Ruggiero, chief executive of Italy Telecom.
For the first time, there was a hall where members of the public had the chance to buy new IT and consumer electronics products.
According to Giorgio Colombo, a senior official at PROMOS, 55,000 products were sold to 24,000 clients for a total of $7.8 million. Antonio Emmanuelli, president of SMAU, expressed enthusiasm about Egypt's prospects for developing a dynamic IT sector, citing its human resources and its status as an emerging market. As the importance of IT increases in the international economy, "Egypt is poised to be the main gateway to the Middle East for firms operating in the Internet and telecommunications markets," Emmanuelli told Al-Ahram Weekly.
However, "Egypt needs to develop its legislation governing the IT sector as well as its practices in getting a substantial percentage of the population online," Maura Gritti, SMAU's international marketing manager told the Weekly.
Gritti was pleased with SMAU's results and stressed how the presence of over 30 companies in the international hall was a very positive fact, "given the difficult (international economic and political) situation at the moment".
"For many countries, including Egypt, SMAU has become a way to establish a presence in the European market," she added.
SMAU 2002's mission, according to Emmanuelli, is to provide support to companies that want to grow, as well as provide a venue where their businesses can interact with foreign companies -- especially from the Middle East -- increasing their activities and exploring new ways to energise their business. "This is why, traditionally, SMAU features a large number of foreign exhibitors," said Emmanuelli, emphasising that they could find new partners and distributors both in Italy and in Southern Europe.
With the convening of meetings by the Federation of IT Exhibitions in the Mediterranean Area (FERAM) at SMAU, Egypt had another opportunity to promote its IT sector. Egypt's Al- Ahram Computer and IT Exhibition (ACITEX) -- which was exhibiting at the fair for the fifth year -- is a member of the federation, which aims to develop a common strategy for ICT exhibitions in the Mediterranean. FERAM's members include organisations from France, Italy, Spain and Turkey, according to Mohamed Habib, president of ACITEX.
Egyptian visitors to the fair expressed enthusiasm for SMAU. Mohamed Fouad, chairman of the Egyptian Software Association (ESA) said that the event was a good opportunity for businessmen to meet and compare ideas, which each company can take advantage of and tailor to its own needs. "SMAU is our highway to the Italian and European markets," said Fouad. He added that it was a key event for industry professionals on the lookout for new opportunities and business contacts.
A flurry of activity is currently underway between Egyptian and Italian businessmen, according to Abdel-Aziz El-Sherif, commercial consul at the Egyptian Consulate in Milan. An Egyptian business delegation will visit Milan in November promoting Egypt's agricultural and industrial sectors, he said.
An MoU was signed between SMAU and ESA as part of a broad plan to promote Egypt's IT sector, according to Fouad. The head of the Egyptian Commercial Representation Office El-Said Qasem, also attended the signing of the protocol.
"Both SMAU and ESA share many common goals," said Emmanuelli, adding that these goals include building bridges with global technology centres to develop the Italian and Egyptian software and services industry respectively.
Emmanuelli emphasised that cooperation will be in various fields, including exchange of information concerning ICT industries and market characteristics, business and education, and research and development.
According to Emmanuelli, awareness over the strategic relevance of mutual cooperation in the ICT sector will be raised, specifically the promotion of human resource cooperation between Egypt and Italy.
A European Information Technology Observatory (EITO) report has revealed a decrease in the growth rate of the ICT market in Europe, after a long period of strong development. However, EITO president, Bruno Lamborghini, said this drop "should not lead us to think about crisis, but rather about a moment of slackening and consolidation of a sector destined to drive the new cycle of economic and social development."
"There is strong growth in the spread of the Internet, which reached a penetration rate of 38 per cent in Europe in 2001, with the prospect of reaching 63 per cent of the European population by 2005, almost 250 million users," Lamborghini said.
In the short term, Italian IT companies will be busy preparing for ACITEX, Egypt's Al-Ahram Computer and IT Exhibition scheduled to be held in Cairo on the 5 February 2003 at the Cairo International Conference Centre.
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