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David Hamod moderates a panel discussion featuring Leila Afas of USTDA, Peter Ballinger of OPIC, and Abdulrahman Jarrar of Intel at a conference held at Shangri La’s Barr Al Jissah Hotel in Muscat, Oman.

Also speaking at the luncheon were two U.S. Government officials with extensive knowledge of ICT applications in Egypt: Timothy J. Magner, Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, and George Dragnich, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Cooperation at the U.S. Department of State.

David Hamod, NUSACC’s President and CEO, visited Egypt’s Smart Village in May 2006 at the invitation of Minister Kamel’s team and Egyptian ICT companies. Hamod concluded, “We are honored to have this opportunity to support U.S. – Egypt cooperation in this vital sector – one that has a profound impact on education, economic growth, and the creation of jobs in this market of 70 million people – the largest in the Arab world.”»

ON THE CUTTING EDGE: ICT

Driven by high levels of interest among NUSACC’s members, the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce partnered with a variety of institutions in 2006 to host programs that highlighted opportunities in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).

Egypt

In June, in cooperation with the Embassy of Egypt, NUSACC hosted a luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for H.E. Tarek Kamel, Egypt’s Minister of Information Technology and Communications. Upwards of 200 business representatives attended the event, which highlighted investment opportunities in Egypt’s booming ICT sector.

Visiting the United States for high-level discussions on technological partnerships and

Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel highlights investment opportunities in Egypt’s booming ICT sector at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington DC.

stronger U.S. – Egypt cooperation, Minister Kamel outlined four specific steps that Egypt has taken to foster growth in its ICT sector, including: economic and political reform; benefits for all stakeholders, investment opportunities in cable landing, wireless services and converged networks for video data; and public-private partnerships in education, broadband capacities, research and development, and management of technology education.

“Egypt has made great strides in its ICT sector and has established some remarkable new initiatives for Egypt’s education and higher education,” the minister stated. “We have involvement from Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Lucent, Nortel and others, and we would like to meet with any IT company interested in Egypt. Basically, my message is that we are open to investment and business.”

In 2006, Egypt auctioned off a third mobile operating system to a consortium led by Etisalat for $2.9 billion. The project drew interest from 11 companies and was initially estimated to draw only $700 million for the license. According to a new study by AT Kearney, Egypt is ranked twelfth in the world in business process and outsourcing.