Egypt bans cement exports until October, says ministry Egypt will ban cement exports from Mar. 29 until Oct. 1 as part of measures to control the markets , the trade and industry ministry said on Thursday. Samiha Fawzi, first deputy to Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid, said the move was a temporary measure to face the seasonal increase of demand for construction material during summer. She told Reuters: Our construction sector is booming and we have shortages in the local market of cement and steel. The government expects the new plants to add production capacity of 20 million tons, taking total annual production to 55 million tons. Once these companies start production and supply comes back to normal, we will lift the ban, Fawzi said. Rising local cement prices drove the ministry of trade to introduce an export duty on cement at 65 pounds a ton in February. It raised the duty to LE 85 pounds a ton in August. Egypt increased export duties on some steel products on Wednesday in response to rising global prices, but kept duties on cement exports unchanged. It also raised the export duty on products like billets to LE 180 pounds a ton from LE 160 imposed on Feb. 27. The ministry estimates duties reduced cement exports by 36 percent and steel exports by 50 percent between March and December 2007 before exports started to rise again in February. The ministry also said in a statement that cement and steel factories would not be allowed to halt production without a special permit. -With agencies El Sewedy Cables 2007 profit 29.6 pct up Reuters reported that El Sewedy Cables posted a 29.6 percent rise in its net profit before minority interest in 2007 to LE 724.3 million ($133 million), the stock exchange said on Thursday. Net profit before minority interest stood at LE 558.9 million in 2006. El Sewedy Cables, one of the biggest cable manufacturers in the Middle East, said in November it had agreed with a sister firm to buy a majority stake in Slovenian electrometers manufacturer Iskraemeco for ?37.6 million ($59 million). HSBC downgraded El Sewedy Cables earlier in March to underweight from overweight, saying the stock trades at significant premiums to industry peers. -Agencies IBM builds data center for Telecom Egypt IBM and Telecom Egypt announced the construction of a state-of-the-art data center for Telecom Egypt "that includes the world s most sophisticated energy-efficient green technologies, the company said in a statement. Telecom Egypt (TE) is the leading telecommunications provider in Egypt, and the largest provider of fixed-line services in the Middle East with more than 10.4 million customers. "Striving to improve customer satisfaction as a key long term success factor, TE chose IBM in 2007 to design and build the most sophisticated and energy-efficient data center in Egypt. Construction was recently completed, read the statement. IBM Global Technology Services (GTS) site and facilities division designed the highly data center to protect TE s valuable information technology (IT) investments, "taking into consideration all factors required for the project such as cabling systems, flooring trenches, switching systems, electromechanical systems and data center layout. IBM will support TE in managing the operation of the data center. Telecom Egypt was convinced that IBM was the best choice because of IBM s standards and methodologies and the experience of the IBM team who worked as a trusted consultant, said Eng. Khaled Marmoush, CIO of Telecom Egypt. IBM provided not only the information about data centers that Telecom Egypt was looking for, but also the technologies and services that are used in today s data centers. Steven Sams, vice president of IBM Global Site and Facilities Services, said, IBM s solution is part of Project Big Green and provides an efficient, reliable and secure data center that will support Telecom Egypt in achieving their goals in maintaining and improving customer satisfaction, as well as helping them be more energy efficient. Announced in May 2007, IBM s Project Big Green is a $1 billion initiative to dramatically reduce energy use by IBM and its clients. The initiative includes new energy efficient IBM products and services and a five step approach to energy efficiency in the data center. OpenCraft sponsors Egypt's first business network meeting OpenCraft sponsored the first official meeting of the Egypt Business Network at the Swiss Club on March 5, the company said in a press statement. Business networking is a marketing method by which business opportunities are created through social networks of like-minded business people. "Egypt Business Network is a leading Egyptian group on XING.com, the group facilitates business networking in Egypt and allows professionals to develop new business relationships and generate new business opportunities, according to the statement. About 50 guests attended the event, including professionals from the telecommunications and IT sectors, banking and finance, trade missions, furniture, airline services, NGOs,marketing, training and education consultancy. "OpenCraft s stanch commitment to supporting professional activities of value, and its Silver Partnership with SugarCRM prompted the company to sponsor this event, wherein they agreed to provide interested attendees with a free trial to web-based SugarCRM. This also highlights OpenCraft s dedication in supporting businesses with industry-proven software solutions to help them increase productivity and improve customer satisfaction, said the company. "In short, Egypt Business Network facilitates business matchmaking in Egypt and opens new business opportunities to everyone in a professional context. African migrants killed trying to enter Israel illegally An Egyptian security official said border guards killed two African migrants who were trying to cross illegally into Israel at the northern Sinai Peninsula. The official said the two men, from Ivory Coast, were shot after refusing to surrender. According to reports, Egyptian border guards have killed 10 migrants this year, mostly Africans, spurring calls for investigations from human rights groups. -AP
