World beating cotton

EGYPTIAN cotton has long been popular in the US and Europe. Indeed, recent research, conducted on behalf of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Trade (MOFT) and the Alexandria Cotton Exporters' Association (Alcotexa), shows that one in every five consumers surveyed owns something made from Egyptian cotton, and 93 per cent of those surveyed were satisfied with their products.

The research, carried out by Weber Shandwick, a major public relations company in March 2003, included a representative sample of 2,502 target market consumers. The research also revealed that 75 per cent of consumers in Europe and the US endorse the idea of a logo specifically identifying products made from Egyptian cotton.

"The research shows that our campaign to promote the Egyptian cotton logo is clearly on the right track," said Youssef Boutros Ghali, Egyptian minister of foreign trade.

The research is part of MOFT's and Alcotexa's efforts to promote the Egyptian cotton logo and reaffirm Egyptian cotton's status as the best in the world.

WB training aid

TEN EGYPTIAN non-governmental organisations have been selected by the World Bank (WB) to receive start-up funds to conduct training programmes in various sectors. The NGOs were winners of the Development Marketplace competition launched by the WB a few months ago with an aim to find local solutions to challenges in the field of skills enhancement. The competition invited Egyptian organisations to submit "innovative ideas" in the field of training and skills enhancement.

Out of 186 proposals received, 36 were selected as finalists, of which 10 competitors qualified to receive awards ranging from LE50,000 to LE250,000 in start-up funds.

Among the award winners were the Society for the Training for Family and Childhood, the Assiut Alliance for Arab Women, the Egypt Society for the Prevention of Blindness and the Life for All Association.

The proposals, reviewed by a WB assessment panel, had to be tailored to address specific themes selected by the WB to emphasise its development priorities, such as developing individual skills in industrial and commercial sectors, providing educational programmes to enable small industries to increase their exports to foreign markets, creating job opportunities and protecting the environment.

Organised with the cooperation of the NGO Service Centre, the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development and the Egyptian Centre for Economic Studies, the competition was first launched in 1998 as an event that aims at bringing together corporations, multilateral institutions, governmental agencies and civil society to support new initiatives. Egypt was selected by the WB as the first Middle Eastern country to participate. Around the world, the competition has invested over $12.5 million in more than 120 projects aimed at addressing a range of development concerns involving education, health, the environment, social development and the private sector.

IFC funds training

A SERIES of training programmes designed to help consulting firms develop and market their services to small and medium enterprises have recently been organised in Cairo by the North Africa Enterprise Development facility (NAED) jointly with the Management Consultants Association (MCA). This is part of a technical assistance programme implemented by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

Funded by the IFC and bilateral donors including Switzerland, France, Belgium and Italy, the training programmes provide a forum for the dissemination of information relating to company development, with particular emphasis on operations, human resources and financial management. The forum also provides consultants with the opportunity to network.

The MCA is a non-governmental association founded to represent, develop, and sustain the management consultancy profession.

Japan cooperation

LAST week, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Arab Contractors Company and the Japanese construction giant Sumitomo, reports Mona El- Fiqi.

Sumitomo is responsible for implementing the infrastructure projects in African countries, financed by the Japanese foreign aid programme. With an annual budget exceeding $2 billion, Sumitomo is committed to providing these projects with the Arab Contractors Company (ACC) as subcontractor.

The MoU was signed by Ibrahim Mahlab, chairman of ACC and Masaki Fujita, general manager of Sumitomo's regional office in Cairo.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga, said in a press conference held after the protocol was signed, that the economic alliance between ACC and a Japanese company reflects the great economic and investment potentials of the private sector in both countries. She also said the alliance, which is the first of its kind, will encourage other companies to cooperate in numerous other sectors.

According to Fujita, the ACC will benefit from Japanese financial and technological facilities while Sumitomo will utilise Egyptian human resources in the implementation of its projects in Africa. Moreover, Mahlab said that he expected this cooperation will be fruitful since the ACC, which has offices in many African countries, has already implemented a Japanese financed infrastructure project in Tunisia. That project was awarded a Best Project award by the Egypt-Japan Business Council.

Not everyone, however, was so satisfied. Yama Guchi, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Cairo felt that bilateral economic relations between Egypt and Japan were unsatisfactory and should be enhanced. According to Guchi, bilateral trade volumes stand at $650 million while the Japanese direct investment in Egypt is only $50 million, a figure which was not concordant with Japan's economic weight.