Egypt has embarked on an ambitious programme to develop an advanced information society. Some of the programme's pillars are boosting the local IT industry through attracting foreign investments, seeking a wider private sector role through privatisation while encouraging more private companies to become involved and introducing the government bodies to the electronic world through the e- government initiatives. Nevertheless, in order to maintain these growth rates, Egypt has to depend on more than heavy state involvement in an embryonic sector.

The communication and information technology (CIT) sector posted a growth rate of more than 30 per cent last year and attracted LE9.2 billion worth of capital investments in 2004. This week witnessed a handful of events which shed light on the sector's growing potential as a regional IT hub.