Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel led a high-level delegation of government officials, representatives and directors of companies in a ministerial mission to Ireland and Germany that was held from February 23–27, 2009.

The mission aimed at boosting cooperation with the two countries in information and communications technology (ICT) and post.

The ministerial mission started in Ireland where Dr. Kamel met Mr. Eamon Ryan T.D., Irish Minister of Communications, Energy, and Natural Resources to discuss means of boosting bilateral cooperation in ICT.

Dr. Kamel also convened with Mr. Sean Power, Minister of State for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. The two officials inaugurated the Egyptian-Irish Businessmen Forum.

The visit to Ireland encompassed a meeting between Minister Kamel and Ms. Mary Coughlan, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Deputy Prime Minister.

The Egyptian delegation stopped over CRANN Nano Technology Center at Trinity College, then visited the Electronic Technology Laboratory where Dr. Kamel met the teaching staff and heads of departments.

A number of meetings were held between the delegation of top executives of Egyptian companies and their Irish counterparts in a bid to explore and promote possible cooperation.

The Egyptian delegation established links with Dublin Institute of Technology, Trinity College and University College Dublin (UCD) and held discussions with the Irish Software Association (ISA) and Irish Business Communities.

Dr. Kamel convened with Mr. David Mulville, Senior Vice President Middle East and Africa, EMPGI. The two parties had earlier agreed on a number of cooperation programs between EMPGI and Egyptian IT companies on producing educational programs in Egypt.

Several agreements were signed during the visit to Ireland. Dr. Kamel witnessed the signing of three agreements; one between Information Technology Institute (ITI) and Education Media and Publishing Group Ireland (EMPGI), a leading international publishing house and educational software company, and the other between the National Telecommunication institute (NTI), the ITI and Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT).

The third was signed between Egypt's Egyptian Association for Information Technology (ITEC), the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and the Irish Software Association (ISA).

“As Ireland has been playing a key role on a geographical level as a gateway to Europe, Egypt is playing a similar role as a gateway to Africa and the Middle East,” Dr. Kamel stated.

According to Dr. Kamel, Irish companies and academic institutions are attracted to Egypt being a promising and emerging ICT market. IT spending in Egypt rose by more than 25 per cent from 2003 to 2007.

Last May, ITIDA signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ireland's ISA, extending cooperation in software programming, IT services and expertise and information exchange in the software domain. The MoU supports possible collaboration between IT companies in Egypt and Ireland and the expansion of trade missions and participation in international exhibitions. 

Meanwhile, during the mission to Germany that started on February 25th, Dr. Kamel and the accompanying delegation held talks with a number of German officials and top executives including Dr. Jens Weidmann, Economic Advisor to Germany's Counselor Angela Merkel.

Minister Kamel also met Mr. Matthias Kurth, President of the Federal Network Agency and Mr. Joerg Baumgarti, Managing Director and Mr. Tino Zahidi, MENA Consultant, Bundes Drukeri.

Dr. Kamel toured the Technology Park in Berlin- Adlershof, and visited a number of companies and research organizations working in Adlershof, namely Bessy II and Liquidrom Lab where the Egyptian delegation got introduced to the latest German telecom innovations.

During his mission to Germany, Dr. Kamel witnesses the signing of three agreements between Egypt and Germany. The first cooperation agreement is between the German Technology Park in Berlin- Adlershof and the Smart Villages Company.

The agreement aims at sharing expertise in the field of technology parks and empowering Egyptian SMEs and technology incubators. The second agreement was signed between ITEC and European Information Technology Observatory Program. Sponsored by ITIDA, Egyptian companies will be able to get involved in projects worth about 160 billion Euros presented by the German Government to the European Union.

ITEC and German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) had signed a cooperation agreement earlier last month. The investment volume after the mutual collaboration in exporting IT services from Egypt to European, African and Middle Eastern markets is expected to reach about 50 million Euros during the years 2009 and 2010.

Finally, Egypt Post signed an agreement with German OCE. Based on the agreement which is to be renewed annually, each entity will act as its counterparts’ arm in its home country.

The talks in Germany involved investment development in several domains. Software Quality Systems (SQS) decided to move 70% of its testing operations to the Egypt's technology park in Maadi.

According to Dr. Kamel, the upcoming phase will witness more support to SMEs as a major drive of the economy, a fact proven by the German model.