Egypt's Future Closely Linked to IT Success

Information technology will play a central and defining role in Egypt's economic and political future, confirmed Dr Magued Osman, the newly appointed Minister for Communications and Information Technology.

Osman said in a statement that there would be continued strong government support for the country's IT strategy that focuses on investment and job creation led by the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA). ITIDA has also been commissioned with the responsibility of researching the feasibility of allowing Egyptians inside Egypt and expatriates around the world to vote online in the country's forthcoming presidential election.

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) is a governmental entity affiliated with Egypt's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. It is responsible for growing and establishing Egypt's position as a global outsourcing location by attracting foreign direct investment to the industry and maximizing the exports of IT services and applications.

Osman added: "As recent events have shown, the people of Egypt are very sophisticated when it comes to using and developing different forms of technology. We will continue on our path of using these capabilities to grow our economy, building on our successes to date. Politically, our aim is to empower all Egyptians – wherever they are – to participate in a fully transparent and fair voting process for the country at this crucial point in our history."

Egypt is one of the fastest growing outsourcing destinations worldwide and is well known for its very significant talent base in areas such as software development and research and devlopment. Many major multinationals such as IBM, Oracle and Teleperformance (News - Alert) have established a significant presence in Egypt over the last few years and have pledged to continue to support the country as it plans for a new political future.

A recent study by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Outsourcing Unit for ITIDA reveals that non-BRIC countries like Egypt, Mexico, Poland, and the Philippines have been emerging as viable competitors.

The report reveals that non-BRIC countries investigated are creating new off shoring opportunities, capable of development even in recessionary times. Of these, it found that Egypt ranked most attractive based on costs, followed by Vietnam and Morocco. Egypt came out on top on skills: technically, linguistically and in customer service.

Egypt owes its past glory to being at the crossroads of trade between Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The country seems well poised to regain that prominence via IT through offshore outsourcing – credited to a well-educated, multilingual, IT-savvy and affordable workforce.

Smart Village, the Egyptian ICT (information and communications technology) hub located in the suburbs of Cairo, offers facilities for more than 35,000 people. Additional Smart Village offices are being planned for Alexandria to accommodate the countries fast-growing industry. Offshore and domestic demand enabled Egypt’s ICT industry to grow by 14.6 percent in 2008-2009 reports the IDITA. This, in turn, has helped Egypt’s economy to expand by 4.7 percent, which is quite commendable, given the current worldwide situation.

CEO of ITIDA, Yasser El Kady said in a statement: "The IT industry remains a central pillar of the Egyptian economy. It is excellent news to have the continued strong support of the Minister and the wider Egyptian government. We remain firmly committed to supporting all of our investors and the excellent base of local IT companies, as we have been doing throughout the last few years. It is also an honor for us at ITIDA to extend all the technical help needed in setting up and managing such an important part of the democratic process. We are looking forward to leading such a significant project."