Minister of Communications Seeks to Increase Foreign Investments in Egypt
Dr. Hany Mahmoud, Minister of Communications and Information Technology will hold a meeting with international companies in Egypt by the end of this month to discuss new ideas for developing this sector in order to increase their investments in the local markets.
He affirmed that the ministry is working on activating the small-and medium-sized enterprises whether through the government or by pumping new investments in this sector. He pointed out that such enterprises have been suffering from shrinkage in the volume of their business since the 25th Revolution. He added that international companies have been used by the sector as an element of success during the past 18 years.
There is a wide of regulations and laws which have not been enacted yet such as the new telecommunications act, freedom of information exchange act, and the personal information protection act, as a result of the current situation in Egypt, he said. He also noted that the non-activation of the personal information protection act has led to suspending a large volume of investments in the field of call center, especially in the financial and banking sectors.
The Ministry is going to focus on 5 priorities in the coming period, including attracting new investments, creating job opportunities in the fields of software, export, and call center, supporting leading institutions such as Telecom Egypt, the National Post Authority, as well as small-and-medium-sized companies, he said.
He further explained that the Ministry is working on completing the initiatives which are underway such as the Broadband Internet initiative that will be carried out within the next five years, and launching new investments in Africa in order to create new job opportunities. He also pointed out that this orientation will not be on the level of the sector only but it will include political, economic, and social dimensions.
