Egypt's digital exports reached $7.4bn over the past seven years, marking a 124% increase from $3.3bn in 2018, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat said, noting the sustained expansion of the communications and information technology (ICT) sector. Speaking at the monthly meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, Talaat said the ICT sector has remained the fastest-growing in the economy over the past seven years, recording annual growth rates of between 14% and 16%. He added that the sector's contribution to gross domestic product rose from 3.2% to 6% during the current year. The Minister said outsourcing exports doubled over the past three years, increasing from $2.4bn in 2022 to $4.8bn in 2025. He added that the number of companies operating in Egypt's outsourcing industry increased from 90 to 240, with more than 270 service delivery centres currently in operation nationwide. Talaat reviewed the vision and key pillars of Egypt's Digital Strategy, which is built on four main pillars: fostering digital innovation, enhancing digital services for citizens, driving GDP growth and exports, and creating jobs in the digital economy. These pillars are underpinned by two core foundations—robust digital infrastructure and a supportive legislative environment. He stressed the Ministry's commitment to expanding the pool of qualified ICT professionals to support digital transformation projects, noting that workforce development is a major factor in attracting global companies to establish service centres in Egypt. He said the number of trainees in technological specialisations increased 200-fold over seven years, rising from 4,000 in fiscal year 2018/2019 to 500,000 in the last fiscal year, with a target of training 800,000 individuals in the current fiscal year. Talaat said the digital capacity-building strategy is based on two main tracks—formal education and vocational training—aimed at aligning education and training programmes with labour market needs. He highlighted the graduation of the first cohort from Egypt University of Informatics in the New Administrative Capital, as well as the expansion of WE Schools of Applied Technology from a single school in 2021 to 27 schools across all governorates. He also noted the diversification of training delivery methods, including in-person training, online learning via digital platforms, and blended learning models. Talaat pointed to the MaharaTech platform, which offers specialised digital training content across a wide range of technological fields. The Minister said the Ministry focuses on building a comprehensive skills framework for trainees that includes technical, language, and soft skills, as well as freelance and entrepreneurship capabilities. He added that programmes have been launched to prepare young people for the freelance economy and to support non-ICT professionals in developing AI-related skills. He also referred to the Digitopia competition, which aims to identify talent in digital creativity. Talaat noted that Egypt launched its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy in 2019, contributing to the country's advancement by 46 places in the Government AI Readiness Index. He added that the second edition of the strategy, launched earlier this year, is built around six pillars: data, skills, ecosystem, infrastructure, applications, and governance. He highlighted ongoing efforts to deploy AI-based systems to improve service delivery, including an early breast cancer detection system and a speech-to-text system used in court sessions. The Minister also reviewed achievements supporting Egypt's position as a global outsourcing destination. He said agreements signed in November last year with 55 global and local companies will generate around 75,000 new jobs over the next three years. This follows agreements signed with 29 companies in 2022 to expand or establish outsourcing centres, which initially targeted 34,000 jobs and resulted in 60,000 jobs implemented by the end of 2024. Talaat said 15 global and local brands are currently manufacturing mobile phones in Egypt, with a local value-added component of around 40%. He added that production capacity increased from 3.3 million units in 2024 to 10 million units in 2025. He also highlighted progress in digital government services, noting that the Egypt Digital Services Platform now offers 210 government services, serves more than 10 million users, and processes around 2 million transactions each month. On infrastructure, Talaat said investments of $6bn have been made since 2019 to upgrade fixed and mobile internet networks, including $2.7bn for mobile services and $3.3bn for fixed broadband. This has driven a nearly 16-fold increase in average internet speed to 91.3 Mbps, placing Egypt first globally in average fixed broadband speed, compared with 40th place in 2018. He added that the second phase of the network development programme includes expanding fibre-optic deployment nationwide, connecting around 4,500 villages under the "Decent Life" initiative, and rolling out 5G, Wi-Fi Calling, Internet of Things services for vehicles, and a telemarketing governance system. He noted that more than 90% of data traffic between Asia and Europe passes through Egypt via 21 international submarine cables, including six currently under construction. Talaat concluded by highlighting the legislative and regulatory framework governing the sector, including the Cybercrime Law, the Personal Data Protection Law, the Egyptian Responsible AI Charter, the Cloud First Policy, and the Open Data Policy.
