Business training
THE JAPANESE Embassy in Cairo is organising a training programme for Egyptian businessmen and owners of small and medium enterprises.The programme aims to enhance friendly and cooperative relations between Egypt and Japan, and to enrol young Egyptian businessmen who will be the future leaders of Egypt, according to Alia Hafez, programmes manager at the Future Generation Foundation (FGF).
The programme runs 7-15 December 2003 .
The FGF, which is also organising the programme, is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation established in 1998 by leaders of the Egyptian private sector to develop the country's business culture, "so that Egypt can compete in an increasingly sophisticated global economic arena", Hafez said .
"The training programme aims to contribute to Egypt's economic growth and global competitiveness efforts by enhancing workforce performance through high quality, practical, state-of-the-art human resources development activities to meet the business community's evolving needs," he added.
Selling investment
THIS week Egypt will host the large investment and trade conference "Egypt Invest 2003". Representatives from the World Bank, European Union, UNCTAD, the Council of Arab Economic Unity, foreign embassies in Egypt and leading multinational corporations, as well as government officials will gather on 3-4 December to discuss their role in the promotion and development of Egypt's investment climate and prospects for the future.The conference will examine strategies to encourage further investment and to create a more favourable investment climate in Egypt. Participating experts will analyse foreign direct investment trends in Egypt, economic growth factors, investors' rights and privatisation plans, as well as Egypt's trade agreements and export potentials.
"The main aim of organising this event is to gather the major decision makers of the public and private sectors and encourage collaboration and understanding that can stimulate further growth and strengthen Egypt's position in the region," said Brigitte Lundeby of the International Event Partner, the conference organisers.
"Egypt has been chosen to host this conference due to its strategic position as a gateway to the EU, Arab and African countries. Egypt also possesses other potentials, including a highly qualified and low-cost workforce, political stability and vast natural resources," she added.
IT fair
CeBIT 2004, the largest IT and telecommunications fair in the world, will be held in Hannover from 18 to 24 March.Organised by Deutsche Messe AG, CeBIT will display the wares of 7,100 companies from 59 countries. Last year, the fair attracted 830,000 visitors. Gerald Munderloh, head of the project department at Deutsche Messe AG expects that figure to double for the upcoming event.
CeBIT will offer Egypt an excellent opportunity to show off its increasingly dynamic IT sector to operators interested in partnerships. "Nearly 160 Egyptian companies will participate in CeBIT 2003 in order to establish a presence in the German market," Mai Khairi, head of the fairs department at the German-Arab Chamber of Commerce told Al-Ahram Weekly at a press conference promoting the event.
Dalia Qabil of the German-Arab Chamber of Commerce said participating companies will showcase the latest IT technologies, including hardware, software, multimedia, telecommunications, computers and networking services.
Highlighting Egyptian participation at CeBIT, Raafat Radwan, chairman of the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre, acknowledges the importance of the IT industry for the Egyptian economy, but considers bureaucracy "the main obstacle hindering its growth".
A parallel event at the fair, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) World Forum, will review the relationship between IT and the world ICT marketplace. This economic forum is expected to attract 500 of the world's IT and communications leaders.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 20 - 26 November 2003 (Issue No. 665)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/665/ec3.htm