Talking leather EGYPT will participate in the 14th International Leather Days (ILD) 2004 being held in Istanbul from 10 to 13 December. According to Emen Gonel of Ezgi Ajans, the organising company, the event brings together leading companies in the field. "Leather manufacturers have found huge potential in the Turkish market," said Gonel. At least 25 countries are participating this year. "ILD reinforces its position as a reference point in the Mediterranean for the leather industry," said Ferudun Baser, economic counsellor at the Turkish Embassy in Cairo. As one of the world's major leather centres, Turkey is moving to attract the attention of emerging countries, including Egypt, which has long-standing experience in the field of leather manufacturing. "Egypt can also benefit from the Turkish experience. Egyptian companies participating in the event will have a good chance to meet buyers from different countries, and become acquainted with the latest in the leather market," Baser said. This year's event will take place concurrently with the Golden Horn Fair, which will bring together those leather and subsidiary industries manufacturers who have managed to take major steps towards exporting their wares. They will display raw skin, leather for shoes, bags, upholstery, furniture, fancy products and subsidiary industry goods. Cairo's third terminal THE WORLD Bank has awarded a Turkish company a tender to build Cairo Airport's third passenger terminal at a cost of $350 million. Negotiations with the Turkish firm, which has an Egyptian public sector partner (the Holding Company for Road and Bridges Construction), will be concluded by early next month. The construction work will start by the end of this year. The bank is fully financing the project, its first airport building effort in 12 years. According to its website, the bank's executive board of directors is financing the Airports Development Project in Egypt. The project will assist Egyptian authorities in enhancing the efficiency of airport management and doubling the capacity of passenger terminals at Cairo and Sharm El- Sheikh International airports by financing new passenger terminals. In addition, the project aims at improving airport service quality and promoting private sector participation in airport management and service delivery. Marketing machine EGYPT'S General Authority for Investment is set to play a more aggressive role in promoting Egypt's investment appeal. This is one of the goals set by Ziad Bahaaeddin, the authority's new chief. In office for just over five weeks, Bahaaeddin told a gathering organised by the Economic Research Forum (ERF), that by solving the problems of existing investors, both local and foreign, and simplifying procedures, future investments could be better promoted. That simplification, he said, does not mean eliminating procedures haphazardly. Any procedure that is either useless, more of a hindrance than a benefit, or circumvented via legal loopholes, will be eliminated. He also promised more transparency and disclosure. "Sometimes investors complain of the lack of clarity about what needs to be done, rather than the procedures themselves," he said. This simplification and clarification, he said, is not going to be a one-time effort, but a continual process. On a similar note, Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieddin told the same gathering that the system used for the past 30 years to attract investments would be overhauled. That system, which often depended on granting lengthy tax holidays and huge incentives, "has not provided the hoped for results," according to Mohieddin. He made sure to clarify, however, that investors would continue to enjoy any incentives they currently have, until they expire. OT in Bangladesh ORASCOM Telecom Holding (OTH) expressed its willingness to invest further in Bangladesh, provided that the government there improved its revenue sharing policy with mobile operators. Addressing a launching ceremony for OTH's newly acquired Bangladeshi mobile operator Sheba Telecom last week, OTH Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Naguib Sawiris said the company would invest $250 million in Bangladesh as soon as the government creates a "fair playing field" for all of the country's cellular phone operators. He underscored the need for creating parity in the operators' revenue-sharing formula, and allowing more frequency for Sheba to widen its coverage. Currently, some cell phone companies, according to Sawiris, enjoy wider frequencies. OTH has purchased a 100 per cent stake in Sheba Telecom for $50 million, in addition to assuming $10 million worth of debts. "The timeframe for our investment is in the hands of the Bangladeshi government," Sawiris said. Cairo ICT THE NINTH International Telecommunications, Information Technology, Networking, Computing and Broadcast Technology Trade Fair & Forum of the Arab World & North Africa, better known as Cairo ICT, will be held from 10 to 14 February 2005. Fair organiser Osama Kamal said Cairo ICT has become the main platform for local and international industry leaders to display their state-of-the-art technologies, innovations and business trends. He said that over the years, the event has become a showcase for the intellectual, technical and manufacturing potential of the IT industry, providing an exceptional opportunity for both service providers and their clients to meet, exchange ideas and strike deals. FEMIP on track UNDER the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's financing institution, is providing 60 million euros in support funds for Egypt's private sector. The funds, in the form of global loans, will be channelled through major Egyptian partner banks, to small- and medium-sized private sector projects in the areas of industry, services and tourism, as well as agro-food. In a first phase, the partner banks include the Export Development Bank of Egypt (EDBE) and the National Bank of Egypt (NBE). EIB Vice-President Philippe Vive, who is in charge of FEMIP, and EDBE Chairman Mohamed Sherif signed the finance agreement in Luxembourg. "With this joint effort, FEMIP remains committed to support worthwhile investment projects, via reliable local banking partners, in the productive sectors of the Egyptian economy," Vive said. He also said that a broadened base of partner banks would further assist in stimulating private sector activity. "This ties in with FEMIP's priorities, which aim at liberalisation of the economy, and economic cooperation between the Mediterranean Partner Countries underpinned by the Barcelona Process." This global loan is part of efforts to further develop the Mediterranean region's private sector, thereby intensifying support for Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) by serving existing needs for term financing, and contributing to the availability of domestic long-term lending facilities. According to Sherif, with this cooperation, EDBE is now hoping to have even greater reach into the country's SME sector. Vive also emphasised that FEMIP's ultimate goal is to help the Mediterranean Partner Countries meet the challenges of economic and social modernisation and enhance regional integration in the run-up to the creation of a Euro- Mediterranean free-trade area planned for 2010. Since 1978, Egypt has received some three billion euros worth of financing. This has been concentrated on support for infrastructure, environmental schemes and private sector businesses. In 2003, Egypt received a total of 509.5 million euros for the modernisation and extension of Cairo's wastewater collection and treatment network. In 2004, Egypt received 100 million euros for the south-north gas pipeline across Jordan.
