Egypt-US dialogue COMMERCIAL relations between Egypt and the United States received a boost this week when US Deputy Secretary of Commerce David Sampson came to town, reports Gamal Essam El-Din. Sampson, who was guest speaker at the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) on Tuesday, said aims to eliminate obstacles facing American investments in Egypt and strengthen the commercial partnership between the private sector in the two countries. He heaped praise on Egypt's two-year-old economic reforms and highly praised the role of the Egypt-US Business Council in boosting trade between the two sides. AmCham President Taher Helmi said the Chamber's annual doorknock mission to the United States will begin on 10 March. "This year's doorknock visit is very important because it comes at a time when the US Congress has become dominated by the Democratic Party," noted Helmi. But having the Democrats in the majority isn't automatically a blessing for cooperation between Egypt and the US. Helmi indicated that the Democrats, in general, oppose signing any more free trade agreements with other countries, including Egypt. Also, two leading Democrat congressmen are well known for their objection to giving Egypt more economic and military assistance. As a result, the doorknock mission will try to meet as many representatives as possible to promote Egypt on Capitol Hill. Two days before the AmCham event, Sampson and the Minister of State for Administrative Development Ahmed Darwish opened a commercial training centre aimed at boosting the volume of Egyptian commercial exports to the US. According to Sampson, the 2004 QIZ (Qualified Industrial Zones) agreement between Egypt, the US and Israel made his country the number one market for Egyptian exports. Sampson's statement is confirmed by a parliamentary report issued this week, stating that the US has become Egypt's number one commercial partner. The report said the Egyptian QIZ exports to the US increased by 24.1 per cent in the first half of 2006. Besides, the report added, the US has become the second largest source of foreign investments in Egypt. Free trade with AFTA THE MINISTER of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid signed a free trade agreement with the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) while attending the Davos Forum last week. Rachid believes that signing the agreement will provide Egyptian exports a good opportunity to enter European markets. It will also encourage the ten AFTA members, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, to invest in Egypt. The agreement states that Egyptian industrial exports will enjoy preferential treatment when entering any of the AFTA countries. Custom duties and taxes currently imposed on Egyptian industrial exports will be eliminated once the agreement goes into affect . Moreover, agricultural exports will enjoy tariff cuts. The annual meeting of the joint committee is scheduled soon, and will discuss how to raise the trade volume between Egypt and AFTA members. Future technology fair UNDER the title "The Shape of Things to Come", the 11th round of the Cairo International Telecommunication and Informantion Technology Trade Fair and Forum for the Arab world and North Africa (ICT) will be held on the 4 February, reports Eman Youssef. The four-day event will showcase the latest technologies of 360 companies in the fields of communications and information technology, networks, computing and broadcast technology, according to Osama Kamal, Managing Director of Trade Fairs International, the event's organisers. The fair, which will be held at the Cairo International Conference Centre, is under the auspices of Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamel. It will witness the launch of the third mobile network in Egypt, which will introduce 3G services for the first time in the country. Cairo ICT 2007 will also include a shopping area under the name "The Mall". The exhibition is expected to host the new Channels 07 conference, in cooperation with the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), which gathers hundreds of retailers, agents, distributors and channel partners in Africa to discuss means of integrating their businesses and opening new opportunities, according ITIDA CEO Mohamed Omran. Meanwhile, an official Finnish delegation of over 40 businessmen, experts and officials will be at the fair According to Effat El-Shouky, Vice President of the Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Center (RITSEC), a cooperation project will be announced during the visit between Cairo and Helsinki Universities. The project involves practical and educational cooperation to develop and prepare specialised calibres in various fields. The Finnish businessmen are scheduled to meet their Egyptian counterparts to discuss means of cooperation and the possibility of making partnership agreements.
