CAIRO: A key challenge in protecting Egypt’s marine environment from oil spills is developing and sustaining a “credible oil spill response system. To meet this challenge, PESCo – in association with the industry, the Egyptian General Petroleum Cooperation (EGPC), the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) – will conduct a …

In a bid to continue driving greater access to technology and the online world through WiMAX technology, Intel has teamed up with the National Telecommunications Institute (NTI) in Egypt to establish a wireless training lab at the NTI s facility in Smart Village and implement a training and certification program on WiMAX technology in Egypt. …

CAIRO: Egyptian National Railways (ENR) has enforced a 15 percent increase in ticket prices for air-conditioned first- and second-class train passengers to develop the railways amid public discontent over the raise and the deteriorating level of service. What will we do? We have to take the train. It is still the best means of transportation. …

CAIRO: The Ministry of Petroleum announced plans to transform the Western Desert into a major crude oil export hub, increasing production of Al-Hamra terminal to 225,000 barrels per day during the coming period. Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy visited the new oil fields and production facilities in the Western Desert as well as Al-Hamra’s specialized …

CAIRO: After ongoing online protests against a recent decision by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) to lower the price of monthly ADSL internet subscriptions from LE 95 to LE 45 while limiting the capacity of downloads to 2 Gigabytes per month, the ministry now says subscribers have a choice. According to an …

CAIRO: Ahmed El-Baradei, former head of Banque Du Caire’s, recent statements to the press have stirred controversy over the true reasons behind the government’s decision to privatize the 55-year-old state-owned bank. In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, El-Baradei asks those who “misappropriated public funds where has all the money gone? Cabinet recently unveiled plans …

CAIRO: A recent report by the Bank Information Center (BIC) listed Egypt as the biggest recipient of loans in the Middle East and Northern Africa region (MENA), borrowing heavily from the World Bank, among other institutions, during the past five years. “Countries like Egypt lack capital, and so they need money from outside to help …

CAIRO: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Emirates International Investment Company will buy a 51.3 percent stake in Egypt s National Bank for Development for LE 159 ($27.9 million), Egypt s stock exchange said on Thursday. In June the two Emirati firms had offered LE 310 million for the entire Egyptian bank. The National Bank for …

CAIRO: Egypt is stepping up efforts to control rampant piracy of copyrighted material, officials said Thursday, after the United States put the country on a watch list of 12 countries that could bring economic sanctions. But police and judicial authorities are deeply understaffed, and government bureaucracy holds up the effort to enforce copyright laws, Justice …

CAIRO: The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology’s (MCIT) recent decision to cut the price of ADSL internet connections, while limiting the download capacity, has prompted an uproar among internet users, especially bloggers. The cost of ADSL for the 256 kilobits per second speed went down from LE 95 per month to LE 45, part …

Construction began yesterday on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, the first of four stages set to turn it into an international freeway, paving the way towards developing the interstate transportation system. The entire transformation process will cost an estimated LE 1.5 billion. The first stage will include excavation and construction work across 50 kilometers with a …

CAIRO: The median overnight interbank rate on Egypt s pound rose slightly to 8.755 percent on Thursday from 8.754 percent on Wednesday, as many banks kept their accounts squared in a liquid market, dealers said. The central bank auction of LE 3 billion ($530 million) worth of deposits on Thursday had no effect on market …

CAIRO: Egyptian stock indexes rose slightly on Thursday supported by major real estate shares including Alexandria Real Estate Investment, which jumped after an acquisition offer, brokers said. Talaat Mustafa Group said it had made an offer to buy Alexandria Real Estate, its partly-owned subsidiary, for LE 394 ($69.66) per share in an equity swap as …

CAIRO: Egypt s Raya will appoint an independent valuation counselor to study Orascom Telecom s (OT) acquisition offer, Raya said on Wednesday. The technology and communications firm said in a statement posted on the stock exchange Web site that its board meeting on Tuesday had decided the LE 12 Egyptian ($2.12) per share offer by …

CAIRO: Main Egyptian stock indexes rose on Tuesday, with shares in Commercial International Bank (CIB) climbing on continued market speculation it would buy Arab-African International Bank, traders said. Shares in CIB, one of Egypt s top private banks, rose 3 percent to close at LE 72.99 ($12.9) a share. Rumors about the merger of Arab …

TABA: The year 2007 has so far been a quiet year in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, where tourists from Egypt, the Middle East, and the West flock to swim, snorkel, and bask in the Red Sea sun. In hotels and beach resorts from Sharm El-Sheikh up the east coast to Taba, holidaymakers have been enjoying the …

CAIRO: “Ever since last year’s increase in fuel prices, I spend an extra LE 8 each day on gasoline consumption alone, and the majority of customers does not want to bear that increase, said Atteya Eid, a Cairo taxi driver. “It wrecked my living, Eid said. Last year, the government abruptly raised the prices of …

Reuters LONDON: The $500 billion Islamic finance sector may be booming but is struggling to establish a common education standard as qualifications are developed to meet the growing demand for specialized professionals. Regional differences in how banks prepare and communicate accounts as well as how they interpret Sharia, or Islamic law, are confusing investors and …

CAIRO: Porto Marina welcomed the summer season with the launch of nine residential towers and the introduction of their latest North Coast development, Porto Golf. Amer Group, the developers of both projects, boasts that the nine towers were built in just one year, starting last summer. The apartments are ready for sale, and they are …

CAIRO: The price of steel dropped LE 70 per ton, according to the latest report from the internal trade sector of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Youssef Darwish, investment manager at ARTOC for investment and development, told The Daily Star Egypt that major construction companies and real estate developers will benefit the most from …

CAIRO: Corecap and Alpen Capital, the financial advisors of the Center of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT) – the commercial arm of the Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE – announced that Artoc Group has partnered with CERT and invested in CERT Innovations. Mohammed Shafik Gabr, chairman and managing director of Artoc …

CARIO: Sayyed Farag, a 50-year-old cotton grower, decided that starting this year he will not grow cotton anymore after sustaining considerable losses as he sold a quintal of cotton for LE 600 not LE 840, the price Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif set to help farmers this season. The loss, which many farmers have suffered, is …

EL BEHEIRA: Around 100 Iraqis are currently receiving training at the American University in Cairo’s Desert Development Center (DDC) in Beheira. For three weeks, subject to extension, a group of professors from five American Universities – Texas A&M University, Washington State University, Utah State University, University of California at Davis, and New Mexico State University …

CAIRO: The Egyptian bourse zigzagged last week, as shares inched up and down after the Case30 Index hit record highs at the start of the week. The Case30 Index broke the threshold of 8,500 points last Sunday, reaching a new record of 8,519.5 points, as trading activities surpassed LE 1.4 billion and market capitalization soared …

CAIRO: Seeking to drive efficiency across the region’s banking sector, the Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance and the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) – in association with MasterCard Worldwide – recently announced the establishment of the “Hawkamah-UAB Bank Corporate Governance Award, the first of its kind in the Arab world. “The development and implementation of …

CAIRO: The ranking of the competitiveness of the Egyptian economy relative to other countries has declined from 52nd in 2005 to 63rd in 2006, says “The Egyptian National Competitiveness Report, released this month. The same report points out that the Ministry of Agriculture alone has over 300,000 regulations compared with a total number of regulations …

CAIRO: The National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), in concurrence with the Ministry of Communications, announced Tuesday that it will reduce the price of high-speed ADSL internet by more than 50 percent, according to a statement released to the press. The cost of ADSL for the 256 kilobits per second speed – used most commonly by …

A panel comprising the People’s Assembly (PA) planning and budget committee as well as the economic committee agreed in an emergency meeting Wednesday to request a formal investigation from Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin regarding the sale of Banque Du Caire, according to a statement released to the press. The …

CAIRO: After long anticipation, the Ministry of Communications finally granted Egyptian Mobile Operator MobiNil a high-speed 3G mobile license for LE 3.4 billion to be paid in installments, as competitor Vodafone Egypt did last January. MobiNil applied for the 3G license last week after witnessing strong market growth in previous months that outdid its operating …