Trade training

WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi was in Cairo this week to inaugurate a training seminar, reports Soha Abdelaty. The programme is meant to drill officials from the Ministry of Foreign Trade on the trade dealings of the WTO. "This training course is important in trying to build up capacities, particularly in developing countries, so that we can all participate in the organisation with full capacities and equal knowledge," Panitchpakdi said on Sunday.

Panitchpakdi met with several Egyptian officials during his two-day trip to Cairo, including President Hosni Mubarak, Minister of Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros-Ghali and Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. Panitchpakdi was accompanied on his visit by Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) Director General Jassim Al-Mannai, whose body co-organised the programme. Trade ministers from Libya, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Algeria and Chad were also present.

Ghali told reporters at a press conference on Sunday that the training programme is the first of its kind in the Middle East and Africa and includes 15 countries from those regions. "I think this will be a the first of a long series of training seminars in this region," he said.

For his part, Maher said on Sunday that this training is an opportunity for developing countries to benefit from the WTO. "The organisation might not be very popular in some circles, but it is certainly an important tool that developing countries can benefit from," the foreign minister added.

The training seminar comes ahead of the fifth annual meeting of the WTO, which is scheduled to be held in Mexico next September. By strengthening the capabilities of officials from developing countries to negotiate, the WTO and AMF hope they will play a greater role in the upcoming trade round. "These negotiations contribute towards the efforts to integrate trade into the development process," Panitchpakdi said. "It's crucial that countries such as Egypt be actively involved in the [Mexico] round to see to it that it contains development issues," he added.

The training falls under a memorandum of understanding, signed by the WTO and AMF on May 2002 to help Arab and African countries meet multilateral trade challenges.

Cashless and smart?

TURNING Egypt digital was the focus of discussions at the Retail Banking conference hosted by Egypt's International Economic Forum last week.

Raafat Radwan, chairman of the cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) spoke of the necessity to digitalise all information related to Egyptian citizens as a main step towards turning Egypt into a cashless society that uses smart cards. The government wants to increase the number of credit card holders to 30 per cent of the labour force by 2005, Radwan said.

"Unless the government starts to push for using smart cards, nothing is going to happen," Mohamed Tohamy, managing director of the Mediterranean Smart Card Company (MSCC), said.

UK business interest

BARONESS Symons, the British minister of state for trade and investment and deputy leader of the House of Lords, was in Cairo this week to talk about ways to boost bilateral trade relations.

The visit aimed at discussing Britain's position as the leading non- Arab investor in Egypt, in addition to growing bilateral trade and British- Egyptian relations.

Baroness Symons attended a meeting of the Egyptian British Business Council (EBBC), a body set up by both countries in 1998.

This week, a high level British business delegation also visited Egypt. The group, which was in Cairo and Alexandria from 19 to 24 January, was supported by Trade Partners UK, a service that brings together the UK government's trade, development and investment activities.

The delegation included members from the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and Industry and eight companies from different sectors, including spare parts for diesel engines, food, beverages and household goods.

Swiss forgive debts

THE EGYPTIAN Swiss Fund for Development (ESFD) last week earmarked LE22.5 million to finance 10 development projects in various Egyptian governorates.

The agreement was signed by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga and Swiss Ambassador to Cairo Remond Conz during a meeting of the ESFD bilateral committee.

The deal is part of a programme to transform Egypt's debts to Switzerland to development grants. The ESFD supervises development projects financed by these grants and established by Egyptian non-governmental organisations. It is expected that these projects will help in providing jobs and cleaning up the environment.

The Swiss-funded projects include a scheme to improve educational facilities in eight schools in Alexandria, supporting NGOs working to help mentally retarded people in Assiut and improving women's health and educational status in Alexandria. The projects will be established by NGOs in coordination with the Ministry of Social Affairs and concerned governors.

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 23 - 29 January 2003 (Issue No. 622)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/622/ec1.htm