Organized by
Expert Roundtable “Egypt as an IT Location”
with H.E. Dr. Amr Talaat
Egyptian Minister of Communications & Information Technology
SAP DataSpace | Rosenthaler Str. 38 | 10178 Berlin
Thursday, May 11, 2023 | 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
(Event language: English)
The information and communication technology sector is currently one of the fastest growing industries in Egypt. Proximity to European markets, competitive labor costs, and a large pool of talent with English, German, and other European language skills provide ideal conditions for close cooperation with the Egyptian ICT sector. Egypt intends to step up its exchange with Germany in particular in the future.
The roundtable is aimed at associations, companies, and experts from the fields of IT and digitization, as well as political decision-makers in the German parliament and ministries. The aim of this moderated roundtable is to hear first-hand from the minister about the opportunities offered by Egypt as an IT location and to further promote cooperation between the two countries in the areas of digitization, IT and skilled workers.
Roundtable with the Egyptian IT Minister H.E. Dr. Amr Talaat
The visit of the Egyptian IT Minister H.E. Dr. Amr Talaat is the result of an exchange between Egyptian institutions and the EMA that lasted several months. The aim of the exchange was to raise awareness of the Egyptian IT sector in Germany and to successfully attract German companies to the Egyptian market.
Competitive labor costs and talented professionals in Egypt
After an online reception in February 2022, H.E. Dr. Amr Talaat was now a guest of EMA and its partner NMI (North Africa Middle East Initiative of German Business) in May 2023 to inform about the potential of Egypt as an IT location and to answer the questions of the participants, for which he took a lot of time. The Minister gave a first-hand account of the advantages of the Egyptian market, its competitive labor costs and talented professionals. For the automotive industry alone, he said, more than 140,000 young engineers have already been trained in the last two years. Around 500,000 Egyptians also speak German, and more speak other European languages.
Capacity building
Against this background, capacity building is a priority for the government. This includes eGovernment and offshoring, telemedicine and smart cities, to name just a few examples that were also close to the hearts of the audience. H.E. Dr. Talaat referred, for example, to Egypt’s 5,000 villages and small towns and the potential of telemedicine, thanks to which rural areas can also benefit from medical expertise in the specialized hospitals of major cities. In a similar vein, he called his country’s judicial system the most developed in North Africa in terms of its electronic availability and accessibility.
Networking and exchange with Egyptian delegation
The minister came accompanied by a delegation of decision-makers from his ministry as well as from the IT Industry Development Agency ITIDA, which supports foreign companies in establishing and doing business in Egypt. Moderated by EMA Secretary General Clara Gruitrooy, the panel included all voices from the German digital economy – established companies, IT associations and startups – and beyond. Networking then provided an opportunity to initiate further German-Egyptian cooperation activities.
Special thanks go to EMA member SAP, which made its Data Space available for the networking event and shared its valuable expertise with the audience.
Report: Jens Kutscher
In cooperation with
