Upper Egypt too
The American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo’s Door Knock mission to Washington DC has asked the US administration to expand the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement to include industrial zones in Upper Egypt. Signing the QIZ, which is tantamount to a partial free trade agreement, has increased Egyptian textile exports to the US to some $750 million, up from zero, in less than three years.
TE Tata
Egypt’s largest IP-based data communications carrier TE Data, a subsidiary of Telecom Egypt SAE, has signed a partnership agreement with Tata Communications of India to expand its global Virtual Private Network (VPN) service into Egypt. Tata Communications and TE Data have interconnected their Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) infrastructures, setting up multiple, redundant network-to-network interconnection (NNI) points between the two companies. This connects Tata Communications’ European and Indian networks with TE Data’s facilities in Egypt, to serve customers’ growing connectivity needs.
Businesswomen unite
Under the auspices of Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, The 7th Arab-African Conference for Businesswomen was held earlier this month in Cairo. Some 400 participants took part, some as independents and others within the framework of businesswomen associations and organisations in Africa and the Arab World.
Worth $10 billion
Leading property investment and finance companies from Egypt and the Arab world gathered in Cairo last week for the inaugural edition of the ‘Next Move’ exhibition, which is set to become the largest real estate investment exhibition in North Africa. The exhibition comes at a time when Egypt’s real estate sector is experiencing unprecedented growth, attracting substantial investment from regional and international investors. The Next Move showcased a diverse range of residential and commercial projects worth $10 billion.
Confucius Institute
The unveiling ceremony of the Confucius Institute of the Suez Canal University has been held in the town of Ismailiya, some 120km northeast Cairo. This is the second Confucius Institute in Egypt; the first is affiliated to Cairo University. China’s ambassador to Cairo Wu Chunhua gave the opening speech and said that, with China’s rapid social and economic development, Chinese language is becoming increasingly popular in the world. He offered a number of Chinese books to the newly-inaugurated institute which was established through the joint efforts of North China Electric Power University and Suez Canal University last March.
Honoured by FAO
The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has honoured Abdel-Moniem Kamel, head of the Cairo Opera House (COH), with a certificate of appreciation for his dedication in championing the Global Food Day and the Telefood campaign, through directing the proceeds of several concerts and events to FAO. In Egypt, FAO sponsored several small projects in Fayoum and Nubariya, including cultivating planting on rooftops and raising rabbits, goats and bees.
Two gold coins
Archaeologists have discovered two gold coins in Sinai peninsula dating to the era of Eastern Roman Emperor Valens who ruled the Eastern Roman Empire from 364 to 378 AD. The coins, which were found at a site west of St Catherine’s monastery, are the first of their kind to be found in Egypt, the Supreme Council for Antiquities secretary-general Zahi Hawwas said. Valens attacked the Visigoths in 378 AD near Adrianople in a battle often viewed as marking the start of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Over 20,000 people were killed, including Valens.