Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has stressed the government's keenness to regulate the market of software development and information technology. Madbouly's remarks came during a Tuesday meeting with representatives of the Egyptian Information, Telecommunications, Electronics, and Software Alliance (EITESAL) and Brightskies, specialised in advanced computing and automotive services. Also present in the meeting were Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat, Minister of Public Enterprises Sector Hisham Tawfik, Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Amr Mahfouz, and Executive Director of the Industrial Modernization Center Mohamed Abdel Karim. Madbouly pointed out that the structural reform programme involves developing a number of sectors, including the industrial sector. Therefore, developing the automotive industry and related technology is a top priority. He noted that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi directed providing all forms of support to information technology and software companies. In this meeting, the government aims to listen to all perceptions and suggestions to advance this sector, he added. For his part, the Minister of Communications indicated that the Knowledge City in the New Administrative Capital will include a complex specialised in software and will host companies working in this field. He stressed that the state will provide incentives to those companies. Nader Saad, the Cabinet spokesperson, stated that the meeting witnessed a presentation of the efforts of EITESAL to strengthen the information technology industry and support technology companies. He added that the areas of cooperation between EITESAL and ITIDA were reviewed, which included raising the efficiency of SMEs working in the ICT industry, funding research, and talent development programmes in the field of technology, and artificial intelligence, and others. Moreover, EITESAL aims to promote a sustainable automobile industry in Egypt, and develop research in this field to serve the global automobile market. During the meeting, the use of software in the automobile industry was also discussed, given that software is the most important innovation engine for technical systems in general, which can achieve a tangible leap in the automobile industry. It was also emphasized that research and development services in the automotive industry would provide job opportunities in the short and medium term, and achieve a rapid growth rate, while product development in this field would contribute to promoting innovation, attracting investments, and achieving higher returns in the long term.
