CAIRO: Egypt and Germany signed an MOU to launch an initiative allowing Egypt to benefit from the German experience in industrial energy management and efficiency. The MOU, titled "Energy Management and Rationalization in Egyptian Industry,” was signed at a conference in Cairo, Sunday, by Samir El Sayad, Egypt's Minister of Trade and Industry, Maged Osman, Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and Hans Peter Keitel, president of the German Federation of Industries. According to a statement on the Egyptian Ministry of Industry website, the initiative aimed to rationalize energy consumption and improve the efficiency of energy use in factories. This would be expected to subsequently improve the performance of industry and national economy, especially in light of economic and environmental challenges facing the world today in terms of energy. Capacity building and awareness of optimal energy management would be part of the initiative. Workshops and training sessions would start with a group of Egyptian engineers and technicians and the Arabization of training curriculums to better suit the reality of the local industry. The trainees would receive a certificate of credit from the European Union in the Department of Energy. Ahmed Sami, head of the industrial development program at the ministry, said that some stages of the training programs would even be offered online, including training on the internationally accredited approach by the European Union in the field of energy management. The launch of the initiative, he added, was an essential step in the transformation of Egyptian industry to an eco-friendly one and the reduction of the cost of the production process. It showed the industry's commitment to international standards and achieving greater competitiveness in world markets. Tarek Selim, an industrial economist and professor at the American University in Cairo, told Daily News Egypt that focusing on efficiency is the first step in the positive direction, but that there is still much work to be done. “The first problem is that there is very little technology transfer and negligible positive spillover effects along the Egyptian industry supply chain,” he said. Naguib Sawiris, Chairman of German Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce, who was present at the conference, said that there was a need for more skilled labor and trained technicians in the local industrial field. He stressed the need for more cooperation between Egypt and Germany in the fields of training and human resources and transfer of technology between them. According to Selim, this initiative would lead to the upgrading of labor and technology but would not add much in terms of intellectual property and patents. “We must realize that we still borrow most of our technologies, leaving little room for the development of patents and intellectual property which are greatly needed,” he said. For Selim the answer was to develop a national research and development system and to achieve new levels of national quality standards for Egyptian industries, through research in technological and industrial development, to add value to the label, “made in Egypt.” “A great effort was made by former minister Rachid [Mohamed Rachid] to start this initiative but it was all done on paper and poorly enforced.”
