Egypt and India one step closer towards IT partnership

The 30 strong public-private delegations reflected the true image of the ICT sector in Egypt and provided essential information on the current IT/ITES scenario in the country.

The Egyptian session, held on the second day of the forum, was not only a chance to illuminate the country's growing potential, but also witnessed a testimonial from an Indian businessman who emphasized Egypt's keenness to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).

Ajay Shinkar, president of Srishti Indian Company, answered a question posed by one of his countrymen on how hospitable Egypt is to medium sized companies, by saying that "what I saw during a visit to Egypt was really amazing".

Shinkar lauded the energetic atmosphere in which Egyptian engineers work, their tendency to innovate, and the astounding government support to companies expressing willingness to invest in Egypt. He added that his Egyptian partner is doing his utmost to fulfill his obligations and to provide an exceptional service in the field of medical outsourcing.

During the session, Dr. Hazem Abdel Azim, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and head of the Egyptian delegation, presented the true face of the Egyptian ICT industry and invited Indian and multi-national companies to seize what the country has to offer.

The Egyptian delegation had three days of diversified networking and answered had answers to questions posed by international peers who had their hands full of fresh and updated information on the ICT sector in the country. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and ITIDA have joined hands to stress the need for an Indian-Egyptian partnership in the IT field.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and ITIDA are currently spearheading an effort to increase IT and ITES exports through a strategy formulated in a manner that reflects the public-private partnership which is one of the distinctive traits of the sector.

The strategy pays special attention to enhancing the capacities of Egyptian ICT companies and professionals with special emphasis on cooperation with NGOs to reach various layers of targeted groups.

Egypt hosts various international companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Valeo, IBM, Satyam, Wipro, SQS, Teleperformance, Orange France Telecom, Vodafone, and HSBC.

Choosing Egypt as an offshoring location stems from unique privileges bestowed on the country. Egypt is favored with a geographical location that allows the country to serve various time zones, availability of engineers and IT graduates, and abundance of manpower capable of conversing in various languages with an accent-free manner.

A.T. Kearney consultancy firm puts Egypt in the 13th position on its Global Services Location Index 2007, while the Yankee Group issued a report in May 2007 predicting that Egypt would be the India of the Middle East provided that the country stays the current course.