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initiative documents antiquities periodic cataclysms are not the only problem that egypt’s tourism industry has to deal with. poor documentation of many archaeological sites and state-owned collections hampers tourist development and also aids thieves. shortcomings in documentation became glaringly obvious during the 1980s, when a series of priceless – but inaccurately registered – objects were stolen from the egyptian museum. in many cases, museum officials became aware of the thefts only after the artifacts in question had been recovered. the national center for the documentation of cultural & natural heritage (cultnat), set up in january 2000 by the ministry of communications & information technology (mcit), is trying hard to change this. “the cultural heritage of egypt is the real wealth of the country,” said cultnat chairman fathi saleh. “better documentation, especially through the use of information technology, can help guarantee that this wealth will be protected.” saleh, a longtime professor of computer engineering and former egyptian representative to unesco, has already solved some of the egyptian museum’s more egregious problems. in 1992, while working with the regional information technology & software engineering center (ritsec), he began documenting the museum’s treasures with data bases and multimedia presentations. by 1994, the government – undoubtedly thinking in terms of tourist numbers – had turned saleh’s project into a department within the cabinet information & decision support center (idsc). the result was a cd-rom that allowed the user to search a data base of antiquities housed in the egyptian museum by artifact type, material, era and museum serial number. while the data base is hardly exhaustive, the cd goes a long way towards giving the museum’s collection a semblance of order. currently, saleh and cultnat are taking on the much more ambitious task of comprehensively mapping egypt’s archaeological sites. the goal of this project is to create a three-tiered data base, including an accurate inventory of all sites of archaeological relevance, plus detailed maps of individual sites and a complete plan of each structure – temple or tomb – within those sites. the task is an arduous one, but cultnat and the 100 egyptologists it employs have already made significant progress. in late march, the center published an atlas highlighting all sites in the beheira governorate. the book was the third of a series that will eventually include 10 volumes, with maps of every known pharaonic site in the country. the center has also unveiled a working model of the data base, including a comprehensive map of the giza plateau. archaeology’s seamier aspects – tomb robbing and the unlicensed selling of antiquities – have plagued egypt’s rulers since time out of mind. these practices continue to flourish today. documentation alone will not stop the illegal antiquities trade, or, for that matter, boost tourist numbers. but it could provide a solid basis for preserving what remains of egypt’s archaeological heritage. mark pabst egypt
watches as us, eu steel selves for battle as new tariffs pit the united states and european union – and their respective steel makers – against each other, a nervous egypt watches from the sidelines, hoping perhaps to take advantage of the opportunity to boost its own flagging steel exports. the battle lines were drawn on march 5, when us president george w. bush invoked the now infamous section 201 of the trade act of 1974, which allows the united states to respond to any surge in imports that seriously threatens a domestic industry by imposing tariffs. bush said that massive influxes of foreign steel, sold below market prices, had caused thousands of job losses among us steel makers. he exempted nafta trade partners mexico and canada from the tariffs, along with every developing nation that belongs to the wto, as long as each country’s share of total us steel imports does not exceed 3 percent. unexempted trading partners such as japan, south korea, germany and brazil were incensed, and demanded instant retaliation. it was no secret that the tariffs were imposed due to the pressures of domestic american politics; nor that the measures were taken to protect declining steel makers in such political swing states as pennsylvania and west virginia. so the europeans took the battle to the american heartland, levying their own tariffs on florida orange juice and on motorcycles manufactured in wisconsin – hitting two states that saw virtual ties in the last us presidential election. according to the march 28 edition of the washington post, the eu’s target list also includes “steel exports from pennsylvania and west virginia, and textiles from the republican political strongholds of north and south carolina.” by taking aim at electoral college battlegrounds and states with key senate and house races scheduled for november, the eu will strike bush, according to the wall street journal, “where it could hurt the worst: at the ballot box.” egypt, meanwhile, is hoping to turn a profit from this clash of the titans. like the united states, the eu has exempted egypt from its tariffs, while preferential treatment will be given to 13 of the 14 steel products that egypt exports to the eu. right or wrong, the egyptian side views the conflict in terms of realpolitik. while bush insisted that the measures were in line with world trade organization (wto) precepts, a high-level source within the egyptian foreign trade ministry suggested otherwise. “while we’ve taken some measures in the garment industry that seem contradictory to our commitments, the us has done the same thing with steel,” this official said. “the us knows it’s not being gatt consistent.” but egypt expects to benefit from the trade war between its two biggest trading partners. “steel is booming. three new factories are coming on stream and there’s one market that’s closed up to everyone except us: america,” said the foreign trade ministry source (comfortably disregarding the possibility of competition from other developing nations). steel exports to europe, too, look set to increase. the european union is already one of the biggest buyers of egyptian steel, accounting for about 60 percent of total production. the ministry official said he expected egypt’s steel exports to increase from last year’s level of 400,000 tons to more than one million tons this year. adam morrow ft, case
to launch new stock index the days of the word “benchmark” preceding the hermes financial index (hfi) may be numbered as the cairo & alexandria stock exchanges (case) prepares to release its own index in cooperation with london’s financial times (ft). according to abdel hamid ibrahim, chairman of the capital markets authority, the new index will track the market’s top 30 stocks in terms of activity and liquidity, and “will reflect the change of prices and free float only.” the index actually came into effect in january 2001, for internal use only, but will be made public imminently. cooperation and technical assistance from the financial times – as well as the presence of a new, high-profile international index – are expected to considerably raise the visibility of the egyptian bourse, and might stimulate greater interest from foreign investors. “i found that many of the stock exchanges in the area already work with the financial times,” said ibrahim. “the index of the athens stock exchange is with the ft.” there have also been reports of an impending ft region index, which would incorporate seven regional markets, including egypt, israel and turkey. ibrahim, however, denied any knowledge of this. “nobody discussed this with us,” he said.
winds
of war fan currency fears local currency continues to remain under selling pressure, as attempts to find equilibrium for the egyptian pound are thwarted by the unpredictable political situation in the region. “the pound is being pressured by the country’s economic recession and the ongoing israeli-palestinian conflict,” ibrahim kamel, deputy head of the treasury department at credit lyonnais, said. “however, the market is less short [of us dollars] than it was three months ago.” kamel added that currency pressure is also a result of the decline in the number of tourists visiting egypt, which fell 16.7 percent between december and january. according to the latest statistics from the central bank of egypt (cbe), around 244,000 tourists came in january 2002, down from 293,000 in december – and compared with 355,000 visitors in january 2001. egypt’s foreign-exchange problems pre-date the latest flare-up in the palestinian territories, or the september 11 attack on the united states. but political crises in the region – which are at least tangentially related to the us war on terrorism – have certainly not helped. “we had a foreign-exchange crisis before september 11,” a source at the foreign trade ministry said, adding, however, that the government’s proposed solutions must now “be implemented under pressure rather than comfortably.” with tourism figures evaporating further in the wake of israel’s military campaign – its biggest in 20 years – in the palestinian territories, egypt’s foreign-currency reserves dropped to $13.81 billion in january from $14.08 billion in december of last year. the cbe had at first announced foreign reserves of $14.17 billion in january 2002, but later revised the figure down without explanation. currently, the pound is trading on the black market at around £e 4.9 - £e 5.0 to the dollar, compared to the £e 5.6 it had been trading at before february’s international donor conference in sharm al sheikh, currency traders said. according to bankers, the black-market rate has fallen due to a decline in dollar demand on the local money market, and because letters of credit are once again available for importers. “demand has gone down tremendously for dollars, and prices have dropped on the black market,” assem bakir, treasury manager at the bank of nova scotia, said. “also, most importers are now able to get letters of credit from banks, while imports seem to be moving lower,” further reducing dollar demand. yet despite the ease in demand, individuals looking to buy us dollars may find it no easy task – unless they have their passports and airline tickets in hand. “our regulations say that we can provide dollars only to people traveling outside of egypt,” mohammed abu alam, a representative at misr international bank, said. an official at the foreign-exchange office at a branch of egyptian american bank likewise said he could “only sell dollars to our clients who are traveling.” some customers about to travel abroad, however, said they had been unable to buy dollars from banks, even with a passport and valid ticket. at the american express office in cairo’s nile hilton, an employee at the foreign currency exchange desk said he could only provide travelers’ checks, and, again, “only with a copy of your airline ticket.” glen c. carey long
ride to repairs kicks off two months after the february 20 train tragedy, moves are under way to refurbish egypt’s railroads in an effort to make them faster, and – more importantly – safer. mohamed youssef, a member of the administrative council for the egyptian uni cab company, a government holding company, told al alam al youm on march 28 that the spanish and egyptian governments are working on a plan to improve the national railways. the plan calls for better maintenance; the creation of a crisis task force; the upgrade of passenger cars; more training for employees; and the eventual building of new train lines. to this end, youssef said, the spanish government has extended some $300 million in loans to egypt, half of which are at generous rates of interest. on april 3, the general egyptian co. for railway wagons & coaches (semaf) won a contract worth £e 400 million to build up to 200 new railway cars. the april 4 edition of al-ahram quoted minister of transportation hamdi abdel-salem el-shayeb as saying that, starting this august, some 64 second-class cars would be improved immediately, and that semaf’s contract work would add an average of 10 cars a month to the country’s fleet. anyone injured while riding the country’s shiny new railways will henceforth have access to a new insurance policy. the policy, according to press reports, is due to go into effect in mid-april and will be managed through a joint account controlled by 11 insurance companies. funds for the coverage will come from installment payments made by the egyptian national railways to the tune of £e 40 million annually. however, passengers will ultimately foot the bill, paying an estimated five piastres extra per ticket to cover the cost. in the event of the death of a passenger, the family of the deceased will receive £e 20,000, while compensation for other injuries will be assessed by hospital staff.
free
zones entice chinese maritime investors business associations from egypt and china are trying to boost investment opportunities and encourage joint ventures between the two countries. a chinese delegation including representatives of business and industry visited egypt in march for talks with egyptian counterparts, who told them about the facilities and incentives available to foreign investors in the country. based on promises of duty-free trade and industrial zones in the gulf of suez area, the chinese delegation agreed to begin feasibility studies for several major investment projects in egypt’s maritime sector. “there will be an egyptian-chinese joint project in suez in the field of ship-salvaging processes,” said hatem hussein, a marketing consultant at the shipping line transmar. “in addition, a chinese company that owns 24 factories in china and manufactures 200,000 vessels annually has expressed interest in starting to manufacture vessels in egypt.” the delegation’s meetings fell within the framework of the egyptian-chinese business council, launched by president hosni mubarak during his visit to china in january. the council promotes cooperation between the private sectors, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (smes), in the two countries, partly in the hope of offsetting egypt’s trade deficit with china. chinese exports to egypt – mainly consisting of petrochemicals, paper, agricultural and industrial equipment, carpets and electrical products – add up to $600 million per year, while egyptian exports to china are estimated at only $40 million per year. chinese investments in egypt are currently worth more than $100 million. the egyptian side in the talks was seeking new chinese investments in agriculture and petrochemicals, as well as maritime transportation and shipping, as a way to increase egypt’s exports the other way. “given the difficulty of bringing the trade balance into our favor, the proposed joint ventures aim at transforming cooperation between the two countries – which is currently dominated by chinese imports – into a two-way trade,” said moustafa zaki, head of the importers’ association at the egyptian federation for chambers of commerce. local manufacturers have long voiced concerns about cheap chinese imports, which are highly visible in popular markets such as ataba, in downtown cairo. but china does not just produce cheap products. it possesses real competitive advantages that have helped it record the highest economic growth rate in the world in the past year. “even before china entered the wto, its ability to compete was very high,” zaki said, adding that china’s “trade balance with the united states is in its favor.” as a result of attractive incentives, he added, china “has become one of the largest recipient countries in terms of foreign direct investment.” egypt, however, was presented as an excellent point of entry into european and african markets. “the [proposed] chinese investments not only target the potential egyptian market,” hussein said. “egypt also offers duty-free access to comesa countries and access to the huge eu market under the premises of the egypt-eu partnership.” eman wahby egypt-jordan
pipeline in the works the construction of an egyptian-jordanian natural-gas pipeline – to be implemented on a build, own, operate, transfer (boot) basis and valued at around $260 million – moved a few steps closer to reality after the latest round of energy talks between the two countries. the bilateral talks, held in mid-march and co-chaired by prime minister atef ebeid and his jordanian counterpart ali abu-ragheb, produced a financing commitment from the kuwait fund for arab economic development and the announcement of a tender for the construction of a gas pipeline linking jordan’s port city of aqaba to the country’s main refineries. discussions emphasized egyptian natural-gas exports to jordan as the first phase of a project to eventually export natural gas to lebanon, syria and turkey, and then on to cyprus. the first stage of the pipeline project involves the extension of a 250-kilometer ground pipeline from al arish to taba, and then a 13-kilometer maritime pipeline to aqaba. the al arish-to-aqaba section, according to the march 15 edition of middle east economic digest (meed), is being built by egyptian government-controlled engineering petroleum & process industries (enppi) and petrojet. from the delivery point in aqaba, the pipeline will stretch into central and northern jordan to supply gas to power-generation plants, and then on to large industrial consumers. the project is scheduled for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2003. the pipeline’s estimated capacity – which depends to some extent on yet-to-be-discovered offshore reserves – is 10 billion cubic meters per year. under an agreement signed in june 2001, egypt’s al-sharq gas company will provide jordan with some one billion cubic meters of gas per year for 15 years, starting in 2003, according to meed. an approximate 57 percent of the funding for the project has already been pledged. the kuwait fund for arab economic development announced on february 17 that it would provide egypt with $100 million to construct the pipeline from al arish to aqaba, with a three-year grace period before the 20-year repayment schedule commences. the arab fund for economic & social development has also agreed to provide $50 million for the project. in jordan, four international consortiums placed bids on april 4 for the construction of the gas pipeline from aqaba to the central and northern parts of the country, including sharjah-based petrofac international with asea brown boverir of switzerland; santec international with athens-based alpha crown finance; and consolidate contractors international company (ccc), also athens-based, in a strategic alliance with royal dutch/shell group. an egyptian consortium – consisting of enppi and petrojet – has also submitted bids. “by june,” confirmed jordanian minister of energy & mineral resources mohammad batayneh, “one consortium will be selected to construct the overland pipeline stretching form the port city of aqaba to central and northern parts of the kingdom.” according to a source close to the ministry, the jordanian government will soon sign the license agreement with the selected company, which will commence construction in september. glen c. carey in-house
ad production cuts costs in these days of tighter corporate budgets, some firms are taking a new tack in their approach to advertising: the “in-house advertising agency.” rates for airing television commercials in egypt have risen by as much as 70 percent in the last three years, adding a further incentive to cut other costs as much as possible. egyptian american bank (eab) was among the first companies in egypt to adopt an in-house advertising strategy, in an effort to cut overheads. eab started producing its own advertisements around five years ago, with an internal department handling initial concepts and designs, as well as the scripts and storyboards for television commercials. outside companies are still hired to film the television spots. “the main reason behind the decision to have an advertising agency within the bank is that we save a lot of money this way,” said ihab badran, eab’s general manager and chief communications officer. “we are eight people in this agency, fully equipped with advertising requirements, and we have a graphic studio within the bank itself.” having eliminated the need for outside agencies, eab is shedding no tears for the ad sector, in which sales have slumped dramatically in the last two years. badran added that agencies, aside from being expensive, rarely understand banks’ advertising needs. “but we are bankers,” he said of eab’s in-house agency. “we understand the business and our products and know how to present them. put simply, we speak the same language.” he went on to explain the production process, citing the example of an ad the bank is currently shooting. “first, we get a brief from the department that wants to create an ad for its product.” he said. “for the current commercial, the consumer-banking department wanted to advertise its personal-loan facilities. so, we did the storyboards and they approved the idea,” he said. he stressed that “in-house” production did not mean that television commercials were being shot inside the bank’s offices. the bank’s latest commercial was shot at studio misr in giza, and at outdoor locations in luxor and hurghada. eab measures the efficacy of its ads by assigning pr companies to do follow-up research. “this way, we know whether our campaign was successful or not,” badran said. “and, yes, we were very successful last year.” eman wahby
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