Egypt over the past decade has been aggressive in delivering on major infrastructure, bandwidth, educational and telecommunications projects to drive increased interest in companies looking to setup major service delivery centers in the country.

 

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency, ITIDA was started as the executive IT arm of the Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology with an objective of building the capacities of the local IT companies, attracting and servicing multi-national IT companies, and growing a qualified, sustainable, and deployable talent pool.

 

Now reports have indicated that Egypt is enjoying an overall economic growth that is fuelled by the expansion of its information and communications technology industry. The country is said to be one of the fastest growing outsourcing destinations through a number of international MoUs and investment in the country's ICT infrastructure and education.

 

The country’s economy expanded by 4.7 percent in the fiscal year through June and the ICT industry grew by 14.6 percent. Commenting on the growth Hazem Abdelazim, CEO of ITIDA said that they have seen a huge growth in their ICT sector over the past year despite the turbulent global economic climate. More than 10 multinational companies have expanded or outsourced their business to Egypt in the past 12 months and they are continuing to support the development of the industry through investment in infrastructure and education.

 

ITIDA officials has stated that Egypt is located in a geographically advantageous position and most optical cables linking Africa and Asia with Europe and North America run through the country. The country has also installed fiber connectivity with neighboring countries which make it a prime location for transient traffic to the region. As the only direct connection from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt is also strategically positioned to be a manufacturing, logistics and distribution hub for Europe and the Middle East.  

 

Egypt's Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Dr. Tarek Kamel has stated that Egypt is a multi-stakeholder country and they can export services in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Arabic which are all common languages in Egypt. So, many companies across Europe and the Middle East come to Egypt and are very comfortable with the language, culture and communications.

 

Tarek Kamel, had joined executives from Cisco (News - Alert), Xceed and the ITIDA to formally inaugurate an international contact center for Cisco customer service and support for customers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and emerging markets.

 

Egypt has also been excelling in industry reports. A.T. Kearney recently positioned Egypt as sixth on its 2009 Global Services Location Index, an improvement of seven ranks from 2007.