Briefs

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Unlikely FTA

PRESIDENT of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo Taher Helmy said that a Free Trade Area (FTA) between Egypt and the US is "technically and realistically" unlikely. Helmy told reporters last week that negotiating an FTA could require more than one and a half years of negotiations. He said that Egypt and the US do not have the luxury of time because the Fast-Track Authority, that allows the US Congress to approve or reject a proposed agreement in its entirety, without discussing its details, ends June 2007. That would not allow enough time for the agreement to be negotiated then approved by Congress. The latter must be informed of the agreement, 90 days before negotiations start. And it must also receive the agreement after it has been negotiated 90 days before the Fast Track expires. Helmy said that the US administration supports an FTA with Egypt, but does not want to present it to Congress and have it rejected. He added that trade agreements are not easily accepted by Congress. The agreement of the Central American Free Trade Area (CAFTA) passed by only one vote. The AmCham president stressed that FTAs established with the US are usually very complicated, involving conditions that are not easily accepted. He added that he is "not surprised" that Qatar, a much smaller country than Egypt, has halted its FTA negotiations with the US because of the conditions involved.

May the best man win

EGYPT's National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) announced last Thursday that it had received 11 bids for the license for Egypt's third mobile license. These included consortia from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East in partnerships with Egyptian companies and institutions. Telecom Egypt finally announced its partner and came together with Telecom Italia to bid for the license. The Egyptian company said that if it wins it will sell its 25 per cent share in Vodafone Egypt. Another consortium was formed between Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt Post, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Commercial International Bank (CIB). MTC of Kuwait also bid together with EFG-Hermes as its local partner. Other bidders included TurkCell of Turkey, Banque Misr of Egypt and the Gulf-region based Amwal. TeleNor of Norway and National Telecom Company (NTC) of Egypt also presented their bids.

A committee has been formed by NTRA to undertake the technical evaluation. According to Executive President of the NTRA Amr Badawy the consortia that will advance to the financial bidding process must receive a score of 700 out of 1000 in their technical proposals, provided that such a score is not less than 85 per cent of the highest technical grade awarded. Companies qualifying technically will be formally informed, so as to submit their financial offer and to participate in the bidding process. The structure of the bidding process will be communicated to the companies which technically qualify.

NTRA had issued a request for proposals on 14 February 2006, for awarding a license to operate a mobile network in Egypt, which would use second- and third-generation technologies.