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The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has delivered an address at “The Leading Private Sector Platform,” an event by the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (AmCham). It was attended by Public Business Sector Minister Mahmoud Esmat, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade in the US Marisa Lago, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Egypt John Desrocher, AmCham Chairman Tarek Tawfik, and Assistant Foreign Minister Hazem Fahmy. This is in addition to officials from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and its affiliates and heads and representatives of international ICT companies.
Talaat stated that the Digital Egypt strategy of MCIT has several objectives: increasing the ICT sector’s contribution to the GDP, attracting FDI in the sector, introducing technology in all state sectors, and enhancing Egypt’s capacity in global connectivity. He explained MCIT efforts to further establish Egypt as an IT offshoring hub. As a result, digital exports hit $4.9 billion and agreements with 29 international companies were signed to increase export revenues by $1 billion every year until 2025 and provide 34,000 job opportunities to serve global markets through 35 IT services delivery centers.
Moreover, the ICT Minister pointed to the investment incentives offered to international offshoring companies to create export-oriented job opportunities, in addition to the training support incentives. He added that training programs in electronic design are carried out, which will help expand the talent pool in that field by 65% by the end of 2023, thus attracting more electronic design centers and maximizing exports in that industry.
Talaat highlighted that the ICT sector achieved a 16.3% growth rate. He pointed to the reform measures introduced to create an enabling environment for business development in the ICT sector, including enacting the Anti-Cyber and IT Crimes Law and Personal Data Protection Law.
This year, Egypt ranks first in Africa in fixed broadband speed at an average of 45 Mbps, compared to the 40th spot in early 2019, according to Ookla, noted the ICT Minister. He added that over 90% of the Asia-Europe data traffic crosses Egypt through 14 submarine cables, revealing that five new cables are under construction.
Talaat underlined that MCIT is keen to foster technology innovation through establishing Creativa Innovation Hubs nationwide. He added that the innovation center at Knowledge City in the New Administrative Capital hosts 24 electronic design companies.
Following his speech, the ICT Minister engaged in a panel discussion with officials from AmCham. He revealed that enacting a data classification law and the “cloud first policy” is underway. Talaat stated that MCIT will enter into community discussions with the private sector and civil society organizations (CSOs) to reach an understanding that serves the public interest.
In a similar vein, the ICT Minister met with Lago to explore ways to enhance cooperation between the US and Egypt in different areas, most notably digital transformation, capacity building, data centers, BPO, and postal services. They discussed the exchange of experiences in Industry 4.0 technologies and regulatory practices on emerging technologies. They also discussed attracting American SMEs to Egypt and strengthening technical and scientific cooperation with R&D centers in the US in AI projects.
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