Egypt’s ICT Minister Meets U.S. Tech Giants to Boost Investments in Outsourcing Sector
Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dr. Amr Talaat, held a series of high-level meetings with executives from major U.S. technology companies in New York to discuss opportunities for expanding investments in Egypt’s growing outsourcing and ICT sectors.
During his meeting with Francine Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer at Cisco Systems, discussions focused on the company’s projects in Egypt across electronics design and customer experience (CX) services. The talks also highlighted cooperation with the Cisco Networking Academy to enhance digital capacity building. Notably, the collaboration recently resulted in the launch of Egypt’s first mobile CCIE lab, hosted at Cisco’s Cairo office in partnership with the National Telecommunications Institute, enabling engineers to obtain the prestigious CCIE certification without the need to travel abroad.
In a separate meeting, Dr. Talaat met with Joakim Reiter, Chief External and Corporate Affairs Officer at Vodafone, to review the company’s ongoing projects to develop Egypt’s network infrastructure. The discussions also explored opportunities for collaboration in digital skills development and partnerships with the National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities, particularly in advancing assistive technologies to empower people with disabilities.
Dr. Talaat also held talks with Dustin Fleming, Senior Vice President at iQor, a global provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) and customer experience services, along with Martin Lehtio, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the company. The meeting addressed iQor’s plans to establish a new outsourcing services center in Egypt, underscoring the country’s strong positioning as a global hub for outsourcing. Discussions covered Egypt’s strategic advantages, including government incentives and a skilled talent pool, in line with the Digital Egypt strategy to expand the outsourcing industry.
The meetings were attended by Ahmed Elzaher, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA); Eng. Sherine El Gendi, Assistant Minister for Strategy and Implementation; and Ms. Samah Aziz, Head of the Central Department for International Relations at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
Dr. Talaat’s visit to the United States includes engagements with several leading American technology firms as part of Egypt’s efforts to broaden cooperation and attract investments in the ICT sector.