Company part of LE 1.2 billion small-business financing program CAIRO: A new company specializing in small-enterprise financing is scheduled to begin operating in H1 2007, Minister of Economic Development (MED) Othman Mohamed Othman said Sunday. The company, called for by local businessman and international organizations such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World …

Cairo: World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz voiced his appreciation of the economic reforms adopted by Egypt, confirming the bank s support for those reforms in the coming period, according to reports by the State Information Service Saturday. These remarks were made by Wolfowitz during his meeting with Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieddin in Washington last …

CAIRO: Companies which import and export goods in and out of Egypt can cut down on shipping times and step up their product flow, thanks to a new online service, insurance company Royal & SunAlliance announced yesterday. The company says that the “e-certificate program, which allows their customers to issue their marine insurance paperwork over …

CAIRO: Egypt s Commercial International Bank (CIB) said on Sunday it had detected misconduct by two senior employees, but that any financial consequences were fully covered by existing provisions. The bank said in a brief statement the misconduct was uncovered during an internal review of one of its branches outside Cairo. CIB, one of Egypt …

Cairo: State Minister for Administrative Development Ahmed Darwish left China Friday, wrapping up a four-day visit. During his visit to China, which included Beijing and Shanghai, Darwish held talks with senior Chinese officials on means of promoting bilateral cooperation in the fields of human development, e-government and administrative development. In Beijing, Darwish met with Chinese …

CAIRO: Egypt s Orascom Hotels and Development said on Sunday it would invest around LE 2.8 billion ($491 million) in budget housing projects associated with the government. The firm said it had set up a new budget housing company to develop 50,000 units on 8.4 million square meters of land it bought last month from …

Now serving his eighth term in the United States House of Representatives, Roscoe G. Bartlett is one of three scientists in the US Congress. In the 109th Congress, Dr. Bartlett served as a senior member of the Science and Technology Committee and served on the Small Business Committee as its Vice Chairman. Recently, Michael Shank, …

Cairo: French firms won the tenders for Cairo’s third metro line, after already building the first two lines, officials announced Thursday. The 33-kilometer third line will bring the capital s underground network to a total 100 kilometers of tracks, with a target of five million daily users by 2020, the President of the National Authority …

CAIRO: More than LE 7 billion in sewage and fresh water treatment projects are now offered by the government for implementation by the private sector in 2007, according to a General Authority for Free Zones and Investment (GAFI) report released Monday. Leading the list are a LE 3 billion fresh water treatment project for New …

Saleh: new mortgage refinancing company to lower interest rates CAIRO: Mortgage Finance Authority (MFA) Chairman Osama Saleh said preliminary 2006 end-of-year figures show the total mortgage lending volume has reached LE 1 billion. If confirmed, the figure would mark a 54 percent increase over the LE 650 million reported by MFA in September. In a …

Rachid: We’re always trying to get a better deal for ourselves CAIRO: A senior Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) official denied Thursday that Egypt, Israel and the United States have agreed to lower the required Israeli input into Egyptian textile exports to the US under the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) Agreement from 11.7 percent …

CAIRO: “Connect the unconnected was the theme behind Motorola’s Future Technology Seminar, conducted in conjunction with partner Mobinil, announcing a joint expansion of the GSM network to serve remote areas and improve service quality. The expansion project will cover Cairo, the Delta, Alexandria, and the North Coast to add three million new subscribers. Against a …

Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohammed Rachid expects a remarkable increase in foreign capital inflows from Turkish textiles and readymade garment producers thanks to the free trade agreement between Egypt and Turkey. Rachid told reporters on Wednesday that three major companies from Turkey were taking final measures to set up mega projects in Egypt. …

Turkish industrial zone to be established this year in the 6th of October City CAIRO: Egyptian and Turkish Ministers of Trade Rachid Mohamed Rachid and Kursad Tuzman signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday for the establishment of a private industrial park for Turkish manufacturers in the 6th of October City. The 2 million square meter …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak, in statements to Mena editor-in-chief earlier this week, explained that the constitutional amendments proposed are basically aimed at promoting democracy, “deepening its values and expanding citizens’ freedoms within the framework of political reform in the various domains. Also Mubarak called for conducting extensive studies on each one of the 34 articles …

CAIRO: Third quarter results for the period ending September 2006 were released by Visa International. The results highlighted the steady acceleration of major indicators: the number of all Visa cards in Egypt, including both credit and debit cards, has increased by 40%, which is one and a half times the average percentage increase of 27% …

CAIRO: The Ministry of Investment (MOI) announced Tuesday it has set the price of a 50 percent stake in Alexandria Mineral Oils Company (Amoc) at LE 3.9 billion, or LE 95 per share for the 43 million shares offered. According to a statement posted on MOI’s website, the price was set by an independent valuation …

CAIRO: Revenues of the Egyptian Suez Canal under the express crossing arrangement recorded $1.692 billion, said Mahmoud Abdul Wahab, the spokesman of the Suez Canal Authority. “The number of ships passing through the canal under the express crossing arrangement amounted to 16,928 vessels since the arrangement was first launched in 1997, he added. The express …

CAIRO: The median overnight interbank rate on the Egyptian pound surged to 9.65 percent on Tuesday from 8.815 percent on Monday with many banks opting to bid on central bank certificates of deposit (CDs), traders said. I didn t deal at all today because I ve entered the auctions, one trader said. Central bank auctions …

ZAGREB: Croatia s oil concern INA and a production unit of the German utility firm RWE announced on Tuesday an oil discovery in Egypt s Western Desert. The newly discovered oilfield will be put into production during 2007 and by 2010 the whole concession area should be put into full production, INA said in the …

2007-12 plan calls for LE 46 billion in investments CAIRO: Four power stations with an estimated output of 1,000 megawatts will join the national electricity grid by the end of 2007, the Ministry of Electricity (MOE) announced Monday. The units will be added to plants in North Cairo, Kremat and Tulkha, completing the ministry s …

Cairo: State-owned Misr Insurance Company has won a bid offered by a consortium of four oil companies for underwriting a new $332 million project. Ahmad Morsi, oil and engineering insurance officer at Misr Insurance, said Thursday that the project will be a joint venture between four oil companies to produce linear alkyle benzene in Egypt. …

CAIRO: The cost of 94 different medicines used to treat diabetes and heart disease increased over the Eid Al-Adha holiday by between 10-55 percent. Sherif Bassawy, secretariat for the Pharmacist’s Syndicate, told The Daily Star Egypt that the increase was “normal for Egyptian companies because it had been a “very long time since they increased, …

CAIRO: The textiles committee at the Egyptian Federation of Commerce Chambers has sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif to protest against setting up a Chinese industrial zone for readymade garments in the 10th of Ramadan City, east of Cairo. Hussein Rashdan, head of international relations at the committee, said on Thursday that his …

LE 750 million facility to double current output CAIRO: Delta Sugar announced Wednesday it is considering an offer from the family of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the late president of the United Arab Emirates, to invest in its planned $131 million (LE 750 million) sugar beat factory in Sharkeyya. In a statement to …

Cairo: The Egyptian currency surged remarkably against major currencies, gaining ground against the British pound, the US dollar, the Yen and the European single currency. The pound also gained value against the UAE dirham, the Saudi riyal and fluctuated against the Kuwaiti dinar. According to a statement from the Central Bank of Egypt, the Egyptian …

CAIRO: Following the announcement last week to the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange, Sixth of October Development and Investment Company SAE (Sodic) and Palm Hills for Development S.A.E confirmed today that they have signed a binding legal agreement for a full merger between the two companies. The deal will involve Sodic’s purchase of 3,070,000 shares …

New government rules lead to lower tender amounts CAIRO: The General Authority for Supply Commodities (Gasc) held its first wheat tender in 2007 on Thursday to import 60,000 tons in soft white varieties for delivery in early February. No word from the authority was immediately available on the competing companies. Gasc announced it will hold …

Purchase part of $8.5 billion restructuring program CAIRO: The Ministry of Transportation (MOT) is set to sign contracts in January to import 100 new locomotives from Chinese and American manufacturers, a senior ministry official revealed Wednesday. The official, who declined to be identified because the deals have not yet been finalized, said the companies include …

Partial exemptions to apply to limited-income housing CAIRO: A new law lowering property taxes from 46 percent to 10 percent of the rental value of a home has been drafted by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and will be presented to the People’s Assembly (PA) in January, Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali said Sunday. The law …