CAIRO: At the first European Outsourcing Association Awards held earlier this month in Brussels, Egypt was awarded the title of Offshoring Destination of the Year. The award is likely to help push Egypt forward on its continued efforts to offer international companies a cheaper means of operating in the country. Over the past few years, Cairo has jumped up most lists of top outsourcing cities across the world, competing with Indian cities for international corporations' business. Egypt had faced international competition from rivals such as Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Columbia, but the association said that thanks to the strength of Egypt's outsourcing industry in providing multilingual services, it came out on top. Proof of this can be seen in Cairo's Smart Village – actually some 20 minutes from downtown – where a quick walk through of Microsoft's XBox call center lets the ear listen to myriad languages. Martyn Hart, EOA chairman, said that “Egypt stood out for its multilingual capabilities and developments made to its infrastructure. It has proven itself to be both a strong player for European outsourcers and a gateway to the Middle East and Africa.” Hazem Abdelazim, CEO of Egypt's Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) received the award on behalf of Egypt. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology said that “this award recognizes the outstanding progress Egypt has made in the last year as a global outsourcing destination. The country's credibility is going from strength to strength amongst European companies and has put its mark on the map of favored global services locations. We recognize the increasing role that Egypt can play in the fast-paced global ICT industry and we are advancing steadily on the way to position the country as a hub for IT innovation and entrepreneurship.” The European Outsourcing Association is a pan-European trade association; which aims to promote the success of organizations in outsourcing projects and raise awareness of the importance of best practice in outsourcing. BM
