British Ambassador Graham Boyce and Egyptian Minister of Communication and Information Technology Ahmed Nazif inaugurated last week the launch of the UK-Egypt IT Partnership Initiative, organized by the British Embassy in Egypt and Trade Partners UK.
Trade Partners UK is a joint initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign Commonwealth Office of Britain, said the Middle East weekly.
British Embassy Commercial Counselor David Reader was quoted by the weekly as saying that representatives of top British IT companies and universities had made presentations at the launch seminar, which aimed to raise awareness of changes taking place in the communications and information technology industries.
The key topics covered by the seminar included the impact of the Internet on marketing, experience of e-business in smaller organizations, and application of communications and software as tools in modernizing the utilities service industry.
The seminar comes at a time when Britain has been declared the biggest investor in Egypt, overtaking the United States, with around 200 businesses being led by British companies in Egypt.
Citing official figures provided by the General Authority for Foreign Investment (GAFI), the UK is now the largest non-Arab investor in Egypt.
"In fact, we overtook the Americans last year," Reader told the paper.
British investments in Egypt are now estimated at $5.4 billion, including oil and gas projects.
"Two-way trade is just short of £1 billion," Reader said.
He noted that, "Egyptian exports to the United Kingdom reached £435 million last year, while British exports to Egypt last year were £400 million."
Reader said: "The two-way trade has in fact grown quite appreciably in the last few years" – Albawaba.com
