CAIRO: One of the most staggering features of Cairo s retail landscape is its multitude of pharmacies. Pick any random street corner and there s a good chance that you re a five minute walk away from two or three drug stores. This is a reflection of the nation s substantial consumption of medication. Expenditure …

CAIRO: Cairo Poultry Company is behaving strangely for a business in the midst of one of its industry s worst crises. As chicken retailers and even some producers have struggled to survive since the outbreak of avian flu in February, Cairo Poultry has increased its capital, paid out dividends and recently announced plans to build …

Grass-root organizations supported by the U.S. government review their progress ALEXANDRIA: About 30 members of NGOs and political movements from throughout the region gathered in Egypt this week to exchange their experiences and attend seminars arranged by the American government s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) on issues relevant to civil societies All participants belong …

Course addresses growing need for Islamic skills CAIRO: Over the past 40 years, Islamic banking has grown from a niche business to a promising alternative to mainstream banking. Today, multi-billion dollar deals are made Sharia-compliant to tap into an estimated supply of some $500 billion in funds seeking consistency with Islamic principles. In order to …

Standoff threatens new Egyptian LNG project CAIRO: Israeli authorities have held up the development of an offshore natural gas field in Palestinian territory by not responding to a routine request for a survey from the field s operator, British Gas (BG). The delay is the latest development in a five-year saga of the field known …

CAIRO: One striking aspect of the Cairo ICT conference earlier this year was the multitude of government departments present as exhibitors. A range of e-government projects, such as smart cards for subsidies and portals for various government services, are underway. Another field in which IT companies, particularly multinationals, feature prominently is education. The volume of …

CAIRO: Analysts, journalists, technology and communications professionals from around the world gathered in Cairo yesterday for the first of three days of the Offshore Customer Management International Conference. The conference highlights key developments in the Egyptian call center industry and examines administrative, cultural and regulatory issues that affect the industry. This is the event where …

CAIRO: As parliament continues to debate the state budget for the next fiscal year, booming oil prices have raised questions about how to deal with the rising cost of subsidizing energy. Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros-Ghali warned the Shura Council last month of the danger of funding additional petroleum products and natural gas subsidies with …

CAIRO: Having officially announced its new agent in Egypt at the Automech Akhbar El Yom car exhibition on Thursday, Kia Motors says that it seeks a share of 12 percent of the Egyptian car market. Kevin Chung, president of Kia s regional headquarters for Middle East and Africa operations in Dubai, explains that his company …

CAIRO: Orascom Hotels & Development (OHD) signed a series of agreements with the Omani government for the construction of tourism destinations in four locations in Oman, one in Muscat, another in Sifah close to Muscat, a third in the scenic city of Salalah in the south and a fourth on Al Soda Island. The agreements …

CAIRO: Golden Pyramids Plaza, the company that owns CityStars, is studying an initial public offering (IPO) of up to 40 percent of its capital. The company is currently owned by a group of Saudi investors led by the Sharbatly Group. Although the company has not given any indication of the possible size of the offering, …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: In 1982, an informal Kuwaiti stock market known as Souq Al-Manakh collapsed. Speculators armed with vast funds from booming oil prices and from the dubious use of post-dated checks fueled share prices to unprecedented levels. Excited by their easy gains, most traders did not care to notice that many of the companies …

CAIRO: Some may accuse it of being an excessive bureaucracy, others may say that its stringent product standards are a barrier to trade, but the European Union s extensive experience with writing rules and creating institutions to support its economic and political ambitions is a fact. Europe has a good deal of experience with institution-building …

CAIRO: Speaking earlier at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, William Rhodes, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Citicorp Holdings and Citibank, said that the ongoing volatility of stock markets in the region is the result of too much money chasing too few projects. Rising oil prices have caused a substantial increase …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: Orascom Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Naguib Sawiris have made no secret of his political views. He fears the rise of religious political movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood and believes the government should work with others to resist this tendency. I think the government is making a mistake by trying to …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: The World Economic Forum is, for better or worse, essentially about strengthening ties between government and business. A number of representatives from civil societies also attend, but ultimately the true theme of the forum, globalization, is driven by business interests. Nevertheless, a number of social issues were addressed by the forum s …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: Unemployment, the growing young population and the role of women in society dominated much of the discussion of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, which moves on to its third and final day today in Sharm El-Sheikh. While carefully skirting around the trickiest regional political issues, the forum focused on …

CAIRO: Increased economic integration of Arab countries is one of the priorities of Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid, who discussed the measures being taken to address some of the shortcomings of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area in an interview with The Daily Star Egypt. Regional trade is also one of the …

CAIRO: The Egyptian banking sector has witnessed substantial developments since the unified banking law was introduced in 2003. The law strengthened the independence of the central bank and increased the minimum capital requirement five-fold, from LE 100 million to LE 500 million for local banks and from $10 million to $50 million for branches of …

CAIRO: The market mechanism of supply and demand requires certain rules, procedures and institutions to be in place in order to operate properly, and the Egyptian housing market is an exemplary demonstration of the breakdown of this mechanism in the absence of the proper infrastructure. The housing market has an excess of supply; many vacant …

CAIRO: With the official end of the Industrial Modernization Program in two weeks, the European Union asserted its continued support for the program s implementing body, the Industrial Modernization Center (IMC), through technical cooperation. Klaus Ebermann, the head of delegation of the European Commission in Egypt and the European Union s ambassador to Egypt, says …

CAIRO: The newly-formed Egyptian Insurance Brokers Association (EIBA) is concerned that the latest amendment to the insurance law will threaten the welfare of local brokers. The amendment is currently being discussed in parliament and includes provisions to reduce the stamp tax on insurance premiums and to allow foreign brokers to provide corporate insurance in Egypt. …

CAIRO: Executives from Vodafone Egypt discussed their plans and outlook for the market going forward at a meeting with journalists at their office in the Smart Village. Last year we invested over LE 1.7 billion in infrastructure to provide coverage, capacity and quality in our operations in this country, says Ian Grey, chief executive officer …

CAIRO: Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga signed agreements with China s Ambassador to Egypt Wu Sike yesterday to build a one-stop shop for investors in the industrial zone northwest of the Gulf of Suez as well as a school in 6th of October City. The Chinese government will contribute $10 million toward the …