ICT Minister, Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade Discuss Cooperation on Infrastructure, Capacity-Building, Offshoring
The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat received, today, the Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa, along with his accompanying delegation. They discussed boosting ICT cooperation between Egypt and Sweden, particularly in digital infrastructure, support for startups as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and digital capacity-building. The meeting explored avenues for attracting Swedish investments to the Egyptian market, especially in the field of offshoring.
The two ministers held an extensive meeting attended by Ambassador of Sweden to Egypt Dag Juhlin-Dannfelt; Vice President and Head of Business Control and Sourcing at Ericsson for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Vivek Sachdeva; and Country Manager and Key Account Manager in Egypt at Ericsson Ahmed El Sharkawi, in addition to senior officials from the two ministries, representatives from Swedish funding institutions, and the Embassy of Sweden in Cairo.
During the meeting, the ICT Minister underlined the fruitful cooperation between Egypt and Sweden. He emphasized the importance of expanding private-sector partnerships between the two countries, broadening cooperation with Swedish companies operating in Egypt, and attracting new Swedish investments to Egypt’s ICT sector, particularly in digital transformation, digital infrastructure, and offshoring services.
Talaat also outlined Egypt’s efforts to support and nurture startups through the establishment of Creativa Innovation Hubs in different governorates. He expressed his anticipation for deepening collaboration and exchanging expertise in this area.
Furthermore, the ICT Minister referred to ongoing projects implemented to upgrade digital infrastructure nationwide, including in the villages targeted within the Decent Life initiative. He expressed his eagerness to leverage Swedish technical expertise to expand these projects in rural areas.
For his part, Dousa expressed his interest in forging additional bilateral partnerships in ICTs. He extended an invitation to Talaat to visit Stockholm to explore closely the Swedish ICT experience and engage with government officials on potential areas of cooperation. Dousa also underscored that the Egyptian market is among the most promising ICT markets, offering significant opportunities for Swedish companies to expand their operations and deliver services not only within Egypt but also across African and Asian markets.
The CEO of Sweden’s Development Finance Institution (Swedfund) Maria Håkansson outlined the institution’s key areas of focus. She explained that Swedfund is a development-oriented fund committed to promoting sustainable development and supporting the private sector by financing SMEs and funding feasibility studies for specific projects. She also pointed to the potential for cooperation in financing specialized projects in telecommunications and digitization.
Sachdeva, for his part, expressed his eagerness to strengthen cooperation, particularly in exploring global use cases of 5G technology, with a special focus on industrial applications.
The meeting spotlighted Egypt’s competitive advantages in the offshoring industry, notably the availability of a qualified talent pool, advanced digital infrastructure, and its strategic geographic location. Discussions also addressed strategies to attract Swedish offshoring investments, enabling companies to capitalize on Egypt’s skilled workforce to export these services.
Discussions also covered Egyptian-Swedish cooperation in digital infrastructure for fixed and mobile networks. In addition, ways to enhance collaboration in supporting innovation to develop community-driven solutions were highlighted, alongside mechanisms for fostering collaboration between startups from the two countries.
The meeting concluded with a consensus to formalize areas of cooperation through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be inked subsequently.
The meeting was joined by CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Ahmed Elzaher, Managing Director and CEO of Telecom Egypt Mohamed Nasr, Advisor to the ICT Minister on International Relations Khaled Taha, and Director of the Central Department of International Relations at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) Samah Aziz.
It is worth noting that the meeting took place within the framework of the Swedish Minister’s visit to Egypt, during which he led a delegation comprising the Swedish ministry officials, representatives from several Swedish funding institutions, and executives from numerous Swedish companies. The visit aimed to participate in the second Egypt-Sweden Business Forum and strengthen economic cooperation between the two nations.