Smart financial district A NEW financial district is being set up at the Smart Village. The first part of that district was inaugurated late last week by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. It included the inauguration of the premises of the Commercial International Bank (CIB), the National Bank of Egypt, Nokia, Siemens, the Chinese Huawei and the new headquarters of the Smart Village Company. This is part of the third phase of the Smart Village which will also include the premises of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and Intel. The second phase of the Financial District, scheduled to be finalised in 2010, will comprise the Egyptian Stock Market building, the Capital Market Authority and other financial institutions. The foundation stone for the financial district was first laid in 2005. More than 20,000 people work at the Smart Village which lies on 450 acres. Stay tuned EGYPT'S communications and information technology (CIT) sector maybe be better off than expected despite the global financial crisis, Tarek Kamel, Egyptian minister of communications and information technology told members of the German Arab Chamber of Industry and commerce this week. He said that despite the fact that 2008 has not been one of the best years for the sector in Egypt, it witnessed a 15 per cent growth. Globally, he said, preliminary indicators show that the CIT sector is partially, but not as severely affected as the automotive or financial sector. That he said that could be attributed to the fact that the companies in the sector have reformed themselves since the tech bubble burst earlier this decade. "We need to stay tuned for changes," he said, but he added that "we should not panic. We need to stay optimistic." Kamel said that the telecommunications sector in particular will continue growing in double digits in 2009/10 due to local demand. He sees mobile penetration going from the current 15 per cent to around 70 per cent by 2011/12. Kamel also witnessed the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Information Technology Export Community of Egypt (ITEC) and the German Association for Information Technology (BITKOM) to cooperate on helping export 50 million euros of Egyptian information technology services to the European, African and Middle East markets. He said that this agreement falls within the framework of the government endeavours to boost the outsourcing and offshore services industry in Egypt. Preparing for the worst HEAVY weight investors last week urged the government to take certain steps to help the business community overcome the aftermath of the financial crisis. Gathered for a panel discussion by the title "Today's Business Challenges: Hoping for the Best Preparing for the Worst" organised by the American Chamber of Industry of Commerce in Cairo, the businessmen, representing different sectors, each highlighted what they most need. Galal El-Zorba, chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries pointed out that current interest rates are not helping out in reference to a need to see them lowered. Elhami El-Zayat, CEO of Emeco travel, meanwhile, urged the government not to encourage investment in new construction project, but rather to first finish construction that is underway. He pointed out that there are 200,000 existing hotel rooms and 100,000 under construction. "Occupancy now is 60 per cent," he said adding that when the hotels under construction are finished, an additional 6.5 million tourists will be needed to maintain that 60 per cent occupancy. "This could cause prices to drop," he said lamenting that it could take between seven to eight years to bring prices up again. In the meantime, he stressed that the tourism industry should try to cut its costs to adjust, but not cut its marketing budgets, otherwise it will risk losing its niche on the international market. Mohamed Qassem, chairman and CEO of World Trading Company, pointed out that in India the government has taken a multitude of steps to help their textiles and garments industry such as: investing $4 billion in the next four months; cutting interest rates three times in two months; creating a refinance facility for small and medium sized enterprises; and providing a two per cent interest rate subsidy on bank loans to exporters. In comparison, he said, Egypt has a long way to go. So far the Egyptian government has given the industry 50 per cent export rebates and reduced the cost sharing of services offered by the Industrial Modernisation Centre by 50 per cent as well. Qassem wants more. What is needed, he said, is "a plan of action to create a competitive industry and to reposition Egypt as a major player in the world market". That plan, he said, should target $10 billion of textiles exports by 2014.
