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follow up ndp talks up reform ahead
of congress leading members of the ruling national democratic party (ndp) went on the road this summer ahead of the party’s annual conference – scheduled for september 27-28 – to promote their agenda, with an emphasis on economic policy and the concerns of the nation’s youth. following the appointment of several prominent businessmen to posts in the general secretariat at the party’s general congress last year, the importance accorded to economic reform in party rhetoric comes as no surprise. the job of promoting such “new ways of thinking,” though, seems to have fallen not to private sector heavyweights, but to gamal mubarak, son of the president of the republic and head of the party’s policies committee. taking the message to university students in july, mubarak linked the party’s pro-globalization stance to concerns about unemployment among the young, saying that the solution lies in higher rates of economic growth. “how can we increase our exports and attract foreign investment to increase the economic growth rate,” he asked in the july 18 edition of government daily al-ahram, “if egypt isolates itself from developments in the international arena?” addressing the social dimension of economic reform, meanwhile, mubarak pledged the continuation of free education, but also urged private initiative to establish schools catering to students from low-income families, according to the july 25 edition of pan-arab daily al-hayat. while the explicit affirmation of free education is new, the call for increased private sector involvement is reminiscent of last year’s congress, where members of the general secretariat urged greater private initiative to address the needs of low-income citizens – vis-à-vis health care as well as education. the social aspects of reform were, however, entirely absent in a piece that appeared in an august 2 al-hayat supplement (sponsored by mobile phone service provider mobinil), in which key features of the party’s economic position were outlined. the article gave particular attention to the pressing need to review customs procedures and tariffs, and went on to imply that measures would soon be taken to reduce bureaucracy in these respects. it is worth noting that the sorry state of egypt’s customs regime was the reason – ostensibly – for us trade representative robert zoellick’s june tirade, when egyptian hopes for launching talks aimed at an fta with the us were shot down. also on the ndp’s agenda is the introduction in the upcoming parliamentary session of a new draft for anti-monopoly legislation, according to remarks made by both mubarak himself and party chairman and information minister safwat sherif. such a step would constitute a major achievement, as such a law has long been called for by representatives across the political spectrum – not to mention the fact that anti-trust legislation has existed in draft form since 1994, in one form or another. conference deliberations will probably revolve around matters such as these, as key figures have already said that the party will not be changing its structure or leadership – the theme of last year’s congress. while speculation over gamal mubarak’s political future has abated slightly since june (when it reached a fevered pitch following a particularly high-profile visit to the us), it may well resume in the days leading up to the conference. many party watchers, meanwhile, predict that the matter will be settled by the end of the year. perhaps, then, a prediction by an anonymous economist quoted in
the al-hayat supplement – that the current domestic political
situation is “the calm before the storm” – isn’t
far off the mark. willa thayer government fails to deliver
on employment government promises to provide new graduates with certain quotas of state jobs have gone unfulfilled, according to a report released by parliament in mid - july. in 2001, parliament promised to provide 170,000 new job openings for the graduates of that year, as part of its “national project to employ the young” initiative. the government made a similar promise in 2002, and, most recently, pledged to open up 150,000 more public jobs by july 2003. but while some 6 million individuals applied for government jobs since the beginning of the program, the state has largely failed to meet its side of the bargain, according to the parliamentary study. the result has been that government bodies and graduates alike have lost faith in the project’s chances of success. “the initiative to announce 150,000 new job openings for the graduates of 2001 didn’t happen,” the report stated. “applicants expected the government’s long-awaited announcement of the beginning of the plan, but they were disappointed.” among the major criticisms presented in the report was the fact that, in many cases, successful candidates’ duties didn’t match their qualifications. “despite the fact that i studied science at college, the job they offered me was in public relations... of course i didn’t take it,” said 30-year-old amin salam. even some from the government side admit the system is inherently flawed. according to former minister of administrative development mohamed zaki abu amer, the already overburdened public sector shouldn’t hire any more people. “solving unemployment is secondary. my primary concern is to staff the government sector properly,” he said. the initiative’s poor track record has caused many jobless graduates to lose hope vis-à-vis their employment prospects. “i guess we were all deceived by the government’s promises,” said mohamed sayyed, a 26-year-old unemployed engineer. “they talked about a future announcement of job openings in july 2003, and now they’re silent. and even if they do announce them, the 2001 and 2002 scenarios will definitely be repeated.” statistics from the egyptian center for economic studies indicate that, over the last 10 years, an estimated 600,000 people have entered the job market annually, when the economy’s capacity to create jobs has not surpassed 450,000 a year. summer said pyramid-side concert prices
deter already wary public these days, the prices for most commodities – from basic staples to imported luxuries – are going through the roof. it should come as little surprise, then, that ticket prices for the latest concert out at the pyramids – featuring renowned italian soprano andrea bocelli, scheduled for august 27 – will cost fans roughly 500 percent more than the last such concert pyramid-side. as if to add insult to injury, the massive price hike comes in spite of the logistically catastrophic nature of the three preceding concerts on the majestic giza plateau, all of which received varying degrees of local criticism. first, 1999’s millennium concert, featuring french composer
jean-michel jarre and sponsored by the culture ministry, proved
a major loss-maker, with parliamentarians expressing outrage over
the vast expenses incurred by the show (which, reportedly, cut a
noticeable fraction out of the state budget). by the time it was all over, the public was angrily accusing the event’s sponsors – rightfully – of selling over 25,000 tickets, when spacing arrangements had only been made for 8,000. and last year’s opera aida, the first collaboration of the public and private sectors, seemed merely to borrow the worst traits of both. the government sponsors took – once again – huge losses, while the opera’s producer was accused by the local press of having fled abroad with the concert proceeds. nevertheless, ticket prices for those concerts – despite their severe organizational flaws – ranged from £e 50 to £e 600. moreover, with major events such as aida, students received 50-percent discounts. tickets for the bocelli concert, by contrast, are going for between £e 600 and £e 2,000 – leaving little doubt that the italian crooner will be singing almost exclusively to egypt’s rich and famous. many local fans, meanwhile, whose entertainment budgets can hardly accommodate such extravagant prices, expressed frustration. ”i was disappointed when i found out the prices of the concert,” said sarah kamal, a 22-year-old university student. “it’s a great loss that i and my friends are going to miss a concert by a legendary opera singer.” she went on to point out that no student discounts had been offered. the concert’s sponsors, in the interim, promise that the concert will be better organized than previous shows. as of press time, announcements to local newspapers stated that organizers were working to offer increased parking space and an efficient shuttle bus service for patrons. summer said gprs service targets well-to-do
clientele mobile phone services entered a new era this year, with novel technology allowing subscribers to connect to the internet via their mobile handsets. rival operators vodafone and mobinil, meanwhile, are both planning to capitalize on the revolutionary technology – called general packet radio service (gprs) – to squeeze as much profit from their upper-crust clientele as possible. gprs technology – provided regionally by ericsson – enables subscribers to use their mobile handsets to browse the internet, download games and ring tones and use multimedia messaging (mms). according to ericsson marketing director lars lindberg, there’s a big demand in the middle east for the service – particularly among the better-off category of mobile phone users. “the gprs and mms services aren’t for the mass market. but there is a need for advanced mobile telephony among businessmen who want to keep a constant eye on the stock market, for example,” lindberg explained. at the “gsm in north africa” conference, held in cairo from june 30 to july 1, officials from the two operators agreed that the “a” segment of their consumer base – consisting of higher-income, corporate clients – is already saturated with cell phones and their attendant frills. the challenge, therefore, is to generate as much revenue as possible from this existing customer base by introducing even better, more cutting-edge services. vodafone launched its gprs-based service – dubbed “vodafone live” – at the end of march, amid a massive marketing campaign. according to vodafone egypt marketing manager hatem dowidar, “gprs isn’t yet a product for the masses. but there are customers who need it, especially corporate clients.” he declined, however, to give details about the relative success of the launch. presently, postpaid vodafone customers can upgrade to vodafone live without additional subscription fees. rather, users pay only for the data they download. the service is restricted, however, to webpages that are specially prepared for mobile internet browsing. mobinil, meanwhile, is planning to launch its own gprs service in the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2004. according to mobinil marketing manager ken campbell, the later launch date is part of a strategy. “there are advantages to coming into the market later,” campbell said. a major issue facing clients of the new service, however, is finding handsets able to support the new technology. the ericsson t65 gprs/wap phone, for example, doesn’t support any of the services included in the vodafone live package, but the more expensive, mms-equipped t68 does. handsets that are fully compatible with the service cost upwards of £e 3,000, putting them out of the reach of many mobile users. vodafone egypt has certified three handset models – the sharp gx10, the nokia 7650 and the panasonic gd87 – as being capable of supporting vodafone live, at least two of which can be purchased locally. mobinil, meanwhile, is “handset agnostic,” according to campbell, preferring to “give customers the choice about what handset they want to use.” by way of analogy, he explained, “cable tv operators don’t care what television you’re using as long as you subscribe to their service.” how this philosophy will affect the launch of mobinil’s gprs service, though, remains to be seen. in the meantime, such value-added services will gradually attract
more and more customers, according to lindberg. “mobile internet
will take off when more services – such as mobile banking –
are introduced,” he said. mats a. palmgren parents feel pinch as school
year starts it’s that time again, when parents have to buy their kids school supplies – everything from stationery to school uniforms – in advance of the new academic year. but this time around, parents are finding that prices for school gear, as for so much else these days, have increased as much as 50 percent since last year. tarek sayyed, a technician whose children attend a state school, complained that he had to pay £e 500 for each of his two sons’ stationery alone. “that’s in addition to the school uniform, which increases every year by £e 20 or £e 30,” he added. the standard-issue school uniform is, apparently, one of the costliest items in most families’ back-to-school budgets, often out of any proportion to its quality. “my sons’ uniforms are very expensive, considering their quality,” said hossam amin, a government employee and a father of four. “i paid a huge amount of money on them last year. you can’t imagine how they were worn out after the first month – i had to buy new ones.” additionally, many private schools insist that uniforms be bought from specific shops, in return, presumably, for kickbacks. some schools even insist that students’ socks carry an “official” logo, available only at designated shops. but even buyers with more leeway, who are allowed to look for the
best offer in cheaper market districts, are finding school supplies
more expensive. “the prices here are much higher than last
year,” complained khadiga youssri, as she searched for a uniform
for her daughter downtown. the supply ministry’s “back-to-school market” has always been an option for those looking to spend less on school supplies. held every september at the cairo international fair grounds, the market aims at relieving the financial burden that has come to be associated with the beginning of the new school year. consumers are generally enthusiastic about the goods, and prices, on offer at the market. “prices there are always cheaper than the stores,” said salem ahmed, who has regularly bought school supplies for his daughter there. “but maybe the prices will increase this year – like everywhere else in the country,” he worried aloud. on the subject of school uniforms, supply minister hassan khedr announced on july 2 that the government would choose a new, unified outfit, with different colors for each stage of schooling, to be introduced in the coming year. “it’s going to be one uniform for both public and private primary schools in egypt, chosen by the prime minister,” khedr said. according to the minister, the cabinet will soon accept bids from
both public and private companies for the manufacture of over 7
million uniforms. summer said despite export promotion,
selling produce abroad still underfinanced the gap between agricultural exports and imports has widened dramatically in recent years, according to statistics from the egyptian export development center (eedc). with the import bill for agricultural products – most importantly wheat – climbing to dangerous levels, industry specialists are calling on local financial institutions to play a more active role in financing domestic agricultural production and export. currently, the agricultural trade deficit stands at around £e 7 billion, much higher than its 1991 level of £e 3.6 billion. osama ahmed, an economist who graduated from al-azhar university’s faculty of agriculture, listed the obstacles that stand in the way of promoting agricultural exports: “the export of agricultural products faces many problems – in production, in the exportation process itself and in terms of competition in international markets.” he went on to cite egypt’s lack of practicable financing mechanisms as perhaps the greatest source of grief to exporters. according to agricultural exporter mostafa ibrahim, banks often place difficult conditions on exporters looking to take out loans for agricultural production or export, usually demanding hefty collateral. mohamed samy, an agricultural researcher at the national research center, agreed. “banks don’t play their role in encouraging agricultural exports,” he said. “these banks refuse to finance agricultural producers on the pretence that the loan would pose too great a risk.” the government, meanwhile, has been pushing exports – to varying degrees of success – for the last eight years through the national investment bank (nib), which makes loans available to exporters at relatively affordable rates. according to bakry atia, dean of the faculty of banking and finance at cairo university, nib offers loans to commercial banks at 6 percent interest, on the condition that the bank re-lend the money to exporters at no higher than 8 percent. an eight-year repayment scheme, along with one- to two-year grace periods for borrowers, has made the system a viable option. the majority state-owned export development bank, too, has increased its lending activities to exporters over the last several years, according to mohamed attwa, a researcher for the agricultural economic research institute. the bank, for example, offers loans at 8 to 8.5 percent interest for projects in which at least 30 percent of production is exported. while bank records indicate that only 5 percent of total loans distributed went to the agricultural sector in financial year 1998/99, that percentage climbed to 17.5 percent for 1999/2000. but many industry observers say that to promote further agricultural exports – which could, if handled right, become a lucrative foreign currency earner – more research should be conducted to assess which crops are in demand internationally. this way, financing could be targeted at industrialists willing to start ventures to meet these demands. ahmed, meanwhile, pointed out that financiers often overlook the
important role that export plays in the creation of job opportunities.
the export of one ton of green beans, he said, creates around 80
jobs, while the export of one ton of decorative flowers creates
260 jobs. “international records confirm that the egyptian
agricultural sector offers 25 million temporary employment opportunities
annually. banks should pay attention to this aspect when they are
considering loans to agricultural exporters, he said.” khaled moussa al-omrani first dozen companies to
launch at smart village the first 12 companies and organizations to set up shop at the pyramids smart village will officially launch operations in september, with the president of the republic expected to preside over the inauguration. these first dozen pioneers – including such multinational and local heavyweights as microsoft and linkdotnet – have invested more than £e 160 million in buildings and infrastructure. the village – located on 317,000 square meters of desert outside giza – was built under the auspices of the ministry of communications & information technology (mcit), which holds a 20-percent stake in the venture. other shareholders include orascom group, arab contractors, suez canal insurance, raya holding, mena group, banque misr, egynet and soficom. according to a recent mcit report, the number of it and communications companies operating locally has leapt dramatically in recent years, from 266 in 1999, employing 10,000 experts and programmers, to 1,015 companies today, employing some 27,000 people. communications minister ahmed nazif, meanwhile, predicted that it and software exports would increase to £e 500 million annually by the end of 2007. the smart village will eventually host a number of financial services and information technology companies, which, ministry officials hope, will contribute to the advancement of the local it sector in the coming years. highlights at the village include a call center run by state-owned telecom egypt, touted as the largest in the region, and a state-of-the-art backup bourse for the cairo & alexandria stock exchanges, expected to employ 2,000 people by the end of the year. the village also includes an exhibition and conference center, a four-star hotel and an artificial lake. additionally, a training center, devised by software giants including microsoft, will offer free training to it engineers. nazif said the village would also be geared towards helping small
and medium-sized enterprises expand by offering new investors a
10-year tax exemption. “once their businesses grow up and manage
to promote their products locally and internationally, they will
be asked to leave in order to make room in the village for new,
young investors,” nazif said. mohamed mursi egyptian role in iraq reconstruction
still vague the quick end of the war in iraq triggered a wave of market optimism in egypt, largely attributable to hopes that local companies would pick up lucrative subcontracts during the post-war reconstruction phase. in the construction sector alone, some 60 local firms are currently jockeying for position in order to secure building subcontracts. but just how good egyptian firms’ chances are of participating in the rebuilding remains obscure. rumors abound that well-known local companies have already been awarded deals, or are – at the very least – close to securing them. the most recent company to be mentioned in this context is the arab contractors company, egypt’s largest construction contractor. in august, the story at the federation of egyptian industries (fei) was that arab contractors had indeed managed to secure two subcontracts in iraq – an assertion that officials at the company subsequently denied. “this information isn’t true,” said effat abdalla, arab contractor’s public relations director. “the situation in iraq doesn’t allow us to contact or negotiate with iraq to discuss the issue of getting subcontracts in the reconstruction process.” meanwhile, members of the economic affairs committee at the egyptian
federation of chambers of commerce have grown increasingly pessimistic
about the prospect of local firms landing deals. the committee has
organized several trips to iraq to explore the issue firsthand,
but with disappointing results, according to committee member magdi
el dessouqi. “we sent delegations to iraq several times to
negotiate subcontracts, but we’ve failed so far,” el dessouqi
said. “i don’t think any egyptian companies have managed
– or will manage – to get subcontracts in iraq.” alaa ezz, adviser to the fei chairman, still sees great opportunities for local firms, particularly those that have already established branches in iraq. “we’re fools if we think that the american and british companies are going to do the reconstruction work without giving some of the subcontracts to arab companies – especially egyptian ones,” ezz commented. “the situation is very political and sensitive.” the state-owned holding company for construction, for one, is looking to reestablish its iraqi offices to improve its prospects. still, according to the company’s deputy chairman, safwat el silmi, the final decision as to who gets subcontracts is up to the us government, not iraqis. “despite the presence of the company’s branch in baghdad, the coming iraqi government wouldn’t have any control over reconstruction contracts. these would definitely be under the direct supervision of the us administration,” el silmi said. meanwhile, according to us government sources, reconstruction work
is already in its advanced stages. paul bremer, the us ambassador
to iraq, announced at an august 10 press conference that the rebuilding
effort, under the coalition’s guidance, can already boast exceptional
progress. “what doesn’t get reported on are the literally
thousands of reconstruction projects that are going on in this country,”
bremer was quoted as saying. “not everybody’s condition
is as good as we want it to be, but i think we really are making
progress.” summer said new “turbo” technology
promises faster internet in an attempt to bring more internet to more people faster, linkdotnet, a local internet service provider, launched its new “turbo” accelerator in august, enabling users to dramatically increase their web-surfing speeds. powered by world-renowned propel software, hyped as the world’s fastest way to surf the net through a dial-up system, the new service promises to let users browse cyberspace up to five times faster than before. “with link turbo, our users will be able to browse the internet much faster than before using their same, reliable dial-up service,” explained linkdotnet director, karim souka. the free service uses acceleration, caching and persistent connection to achieve faster browsing. with turbo, text and graphics are more efficiently managed, and the computer-to-server link is optimized. such a system of “intelligent cashing” retains and reuses stored elements from previously visited webpages. the only drawback is that some image resolution is sacrificed for greater speed. currently, turbo is only available for windows 98 and xp users. mac users, meanwhile, will have to wait until the end of the year for the launch of a macintosh-compatible version of the software, said souka. according to many computer geeks, however, the service is little more than a gimmick. “it’s just a proxy – a caching mechanism – used for browsing. your download speed isn’t actually increasing,” said one it wonk. “it does help you browse faster, but image resolution suffers.” regardless of what techies are saying, though, most laypeople that have downloaded the program are impressed. “if you open more than two webpages simultaneously, and are using the internet for long periods of time, you’ll feel that turbo saves both time and money,” said mohamed al sawi, an economic researcher at cairo university and regular web surfer. linkdotnet – which commands more than 40 percent of the dial-up market – hopes the new technology will lure more people on line and stimulate e-commerce, the revenue from which reached some £e 12 billion last year, according to government statistics. it is also worthy of note that the company is trying to set up
shop in iraq through one of its major shareholders, orascom telecom
(ot), and is currently waiting for the latter to secure a reconstruction
subcontract there. “but if ot fails in this,” said souka,
“we will do our best to enter the iraqi market through other
companies that have already obtained communications subcontracts.”
summer said “hi” magazine targets arab youth u.s. calls off biannual bright star maneuvers
gulf visitors flock to cairo for shopping
festival sharon chooses egyptian gas israel had been searching for a second supplier of natural gas.
while israel’s national infrastructure minister, joseph patrisky,
had been pushing for british gas, which operates wells off the gaza
strip, sharon has staunchly opposed the purchase of bg gas for fear
that the proceeds – of which the palestinian authority is expected
to receive a percentage – could end up in the hands of militants.
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