Al Alam Al Youm, p.6, (9/3/2008)

Indians reveal the secret of their interest in the Egyptian market

Egypt will become a hub for IT in the Middle East during the coming years

    Why are Indians interested in investing in the field of information technology in Egypt? Why are India and Egypt getting close after several years of being far apart? Why did Satyam choose the Smart Village in Egypt to establish its first development center in the Middle East?

Those questions were answered by the officials of Satyam in the press conference held at the Smart Village after the inauguration of Satyam center for global solutions by Dr. Tarek Kamel.

Indian investors confirmed that the Egyptian market is promising and that any company that is looking for prospects of development can not ignore this market. They quoted the figures of the I.D.C Institution for research that confirmed that the volume of investments in the IT sector in Egypt will develop by 12.4% during the coming five years to reach $ 120 million by 2010.

The institution stated that the increase of investments in the field of IT in Egypt at such high rates will lead to establish the Egyptian status in the field of IT as experts expect that it would be the hub of IT in the Middle East.

Satyam officials confirmed that the center is the first of its kind in the Middle East and it ranks 28^th on the global level. The center will train 300 engineer and employ them with the aim of forming a large team for technological development and software support for Satyam clients in the Middle East.

In his statements for journalists after the inauguration of the center, Dr. Tarek Kamel, the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology confirmed that the Telecommunications and Information Technology sector has become the engine of development in the majority of vital sectors in the country, referring to the fact that there is a strong strategy for developing our potentials in this field; the first stage of this strategy is related to enhancing the potentials of the human resources and promoting Egypt as a country that attracts international investment.

He added that the new center represents a step on the road of reconstruction of new ties between Egypt and India in the field of IT. The bilateral ties were somewhat tepid during the past years. It is high time to have cooperation ties instead of being competitors.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Ramalinga Rago, the CEO of Satyam and F.Agrwal Director of operations of the company in Asia, Middle East and Africa and Mr. A. Gopinathan the Ambassador of India in Cairo.

He said that Egypt is witnessing a big economic boom and it has efficient labor that take low salaries. Satyam center was established on 2100 square meters and include two labs for training in addition to equipment for video conferencing, and 24-hour communication connection with other international centers.

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