The country hopes to attract 16 million tourists by 2014 CAIRO: In a move that would make the ancient god Ra proud, the Egyptian Tourism Authority is hoping to lure millions of tourists with a new advertising campaign. Called “The Gift of the Sun, the campaign is a multi-million pound drive to significantly boost the …

Exports hindered by fees, long backups at Cairo International CAIRO: A new Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry (MFTI) study blames restrictions placed on foreign cargo carriers at Cairo International Airport (CIA) for causing the backup of thousands of tons of cargo annually and posing an obstacle to local exports. Of the country s 22 …

ISMAILIA: An expanded Panama Canal could win some business from the Suez Canal, its partial competitor on the other side of the world, an adviser to the Suez Canal Authority said on Monday. But the Suez Canal can fight back by adjusting its transit fees to keep it attractive to ship-owners who might be tempted …

CAIRO: Telecom companies from Egypt, Italy, India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates plan to build a submarine cable linking Europe to India through the Middle East, Telecom Egypt said on Monday. State-controlled Telecom Egypt has signed a memorandum of understanding on the project with Etisalat of the UAE, Saudi Telecom, Telecom Italia Sparkle …

The Ministry of Transport is poised to launch bids on four river ports for investors under the BOT (Borrow Operate Transfer) arrangements. The four ports include one in Cairo and three in other governorates. Karim Abul Khair, chairman of the General Authority of River Transport, said the authority was conducting a comprehensive examination of the …

CAIRO: The Ministry of Petroleum signed three agreements with Chinese oil and gas companies during a recent visit by the Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi to China. The first agreement involves the establishment of a joint venture to manufacture oil drillers in order to explore for oil in Egypt, which will be the first of …

CAIRO: The cumulative value of the exports of the Egyptian companies which participated in international exhibitions with support from the EU-financed Industry Modernization Center reached almost $460m as of September 2006, according to Adham Nadim, deputy executive manager of the IMC. Nadim pointed out that the IMC financed participation of 1,289 companies in international exhibitions …

Euromed Heritage Program earmarks seven national landmarks for renovation CAIRO: Seven heritage sites in Egypt have been selected for restoration through “Adopt a Mediterranean Heritage, a new and innovative initiative from the Euromed Heritage Program. Twenty-five historical sites in the Mediterranean partner countries have been selected for restoration through the program. Chief among its aims …

CAIRO: Egyptian mining and petroleum industry officials have criticized a project sponsored by the Ministry of Petroleum to extract crude oil from petroleum clay (tafla) citing it as too costly. They also said Egypt’s reserves of petroleum clay are insufficient for the initiative. Fawzy Al-Mahallawy, professor of mining at the Egyptian Faculty of Engineering, Cairo …

KOLKATA: Indian tea exports to Egypt have surged after Egypt slashed import duties, a senior Tea Board official said on Friday. India, the world s largest producer and consumer of tea, exported just 70,000 kg of the commodity to Egypt last year, but in the first six months of 2006 sales zoomed to 1 million …

CAIRO: The Egyptian Export Promotion Bank will launch a new E£100 million cash mutual fund with accumulative daily return to invest in low risk securities, such as treasury bonds and bills and the Central Bank of Egypt’s Sukuk. The fund, which will be launched by the end of this month, will also invest in companies’ …

CARIO: There was a fierce bidding war before victory went to Italy’s Sanpaolo IMI for $1.6 billion in what had been Egypt’s biggest ever auction of state assets. It gave birth to its largest private banking group and signaled continuing foreign interest in the privatization program. That saw 190 state-run companies and facilities sold off …

Kuwaitis lead establishment of LE 1 billion north Africa private equity firm CAIRO: Kuwait-based KIPCO Asset Management Company (KAMCO) announced Monday the launch of a KD 50 million (LE 992.4 million) private equity company to invest in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. The company, North African Holdings (NAH), brings together strategic investors including KAMCO, …

Forbes CEO forum comes to the Middle East for the first time DUBAI: Television news channel Al Jazeera won the top spot in a list of the best-known Arab brands compiled by Forbes magazine s Arabic edition, besting Dubai-based Emirates airlines. Qatar-based Al Jazeera, which has been criticized by Washington for airing messages from al …

Economist say obscurities in budget handling could overburden tax payers CAIRO: Egypt is one of six countries that keep their constituents in the dark about the state of their budgets until they are adopted, according to a new study released on Wednesday. The International Budget Project, formed with the private Center on Budget and Policy …

CEO opens company s second training academy in two years CAIRO: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer praised Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif s government yesterday for developing clear social and economic reform plans and said his company will continue to increase its presence in Egypt to develop the IT infrastructure necessary to implement those plans. Ballmer s …

CAIRO: The Egyptian American Company for Brokerage is poised to list its shares on the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchanges with a target offering of 20 percent of the company for trading during the first quarter of next year. Chairman of the company Adel Abdul Fattah said on Wednesday that the timing for the initial …

CAIRO: Egyptian stocks ended mixed in low volume on Thursday in advance of the Muslim feast of Eid Al-Fitr, which will disrupt trading most of next week. Out of the 10 most heavily traded stocks, seven advanced and three declined. The two most widely watched indexes declined by very small margins. Media Production City unexpectedly …

CAIRO: Prices of steel rebars in the Egyptian market recorded a remarkable decline of nearly 10 per cent in the last month Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, when the average prices ranged from LE 2,980 to LE 3,500 per ton. Mohammad Hanafi, general manager of the Mineral Industries Chamber, said on Monday that the decline …

CAIRO: An Egyptian-Chinese company will start producing oil rigs in Egypt next year, the Egyptian Oil Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The new company, which will be 50 percent Egyptian and 50 percent Chinese, will start production with three rigs in 2007, rising to seven in 2008 and 20 a year in 2010, …

CAIRO: Egyptian stock indexes were barely changed in a quiet market on Wednesday, with cautious investors maintaining their positions before the start of the Eid-al-Fitr holiday season that marks the end of Ramadan. Everyone is waiting until after the holidays to start building up a position and seeing the direction of the market, but there …

Company to acquire almost 1 million sq. m. in New Cairo by end of October CAIRO: Sixth of October Development and Investment Company (Sodic) shareholders approved Monday a LE 1.1 billion capital increase to finance the acquisition of 984,900 square meters of land, including a 858,500 square meter plot in New Cairo on Road 90 …

CAIRO: The Minister of Trade and Industry said on Tuesday that seven local cement producers complied with a government decision to curb cement prices at factory ground to LE 295 and LE 302.5 per ton. “The move led to a 15 per cent drop in cement prices at the marketplace to LE 340 per ton …

SINGAPORE: Mobinil has selected Followap, the leader in mobile instant messaging (IM), presence and interconnect solutions to power its own brand of instant messaging services. Subscribers to Mobinil s operator IM service will be able to enjoy the benefits of real time communications on their mobile device through Followap s Instant Messaging Service Center (IMSC). …

CAIRO: State-owned communication giant Telecom Egypt plans to participate with 20 percent in the Arab Egyptian consortium, which will build a submarine international communications cable at a cost of $520 million (almost LE 3 billion). The move comes as part of the Ministry of Communication’s efforts to liberalize international communications services in Egypt. Akil Bashir, …

CAIRO: A banking sector buoyed after Italy s Sanpaolo won 80 percent of Bank of Alexandria for about $1.6 billion helped Egyptian shares edge higher on Tuesday, traders said. The auction for the state-owned bank was one of the largest Egyptian privatizations of the year and a landmark in the process of reducing the state …

CAIRO: Investment bank and equities researcher EFG-Hermes gave El Sewedy Cables an estimated fair value of LE 58.50 ($10.21) a share and recommended buying for both the short and long term. The estimate was a fraction below the LE 58.70 at which EFG-Hermes valued the shares in July, before El Sewedy released its results for …

CAIRO: Al-Naeem Holding Company will fulfill measures to list its shares in the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges (CASE) within a maximum of two months to offer them for trading by early December 2006, a senior official at the financial investment group said on Sunday. Al-Naeem Holding is majority controlled by the Saudi Arabia Al-Naeem …

CAIRO: Commercial International Bank (CIB) will set up a subsidiary in Algeria in conjunction with investors from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, the bank said on Tuesday. CIB and the other investors, who were not named, have signed a memorandum of understanding on the bank, which will be called CIB-Algeria, it said in a …

Reuters CAIRO: Egypt expects foreign direct investment (FDI) to climb to between $7.5 billion and $8 billion in the year ending June 2007, up from $6.1 billion a year earlier, Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieddin said on Monday. The 2006-2007 year will be unprecedented in terms of FDI in Egypt despite all the major obstacles still …