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Egypt businessmen eye new markets in Africa

CAIRO: Top Egyptian businessmen said on Tuesday they could help develop infrastructure and technology if African trade partners unleashed private sector activity.

"Right now we are working in seven countries and I don't see why we should limit our activities to Egypt," Mohamed Metwali, CEO of construction firm aic, told Reuters on the sidelines of a two-day African trade conference in Cairo.

"The only way to promote (corporate) border-crossing is with such conferences," he said, urging African countries to let the private sector build infrastructure needed for development.

Egypt is a relative latecomer to the 21-nation Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which it joined only two years ago. It still has the highest tariffs in the bloc, which aims to create a free trade area by October 31.

"There are great opportunities," said Ismail Osman, chairman and CEO of Arab Contractors, which he said had invested up to $1 billion in 16 African countries over the past five years.

He said Comesa could help Africans defend their interests in a world of trading blocs. "We must share our wealth and we must share our strength to be able to cope with this new force going around the world called bloc-mania," he said.

Feroz Pirzada, marketing manager at Mercedes-Benz, said Egypt could help technology transfer to its Comesa partners.

"There could be a flow of approriate technology from Egypt to the rest of Africa," he said. "We should go ahead into territories where we can contribute to the development of Comesa and be a partner in joint transfer of technology."

Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, which recently acquired 80 percent of Africa's Telecel International Ltd, said the telecommunications industry had great potential in Africa, where penetration (lines per capita) is less than one percent.

Shafik Gabr, chairman and CEO of Artoc Group for Investment and Development, said Egypt was injecting new life into Comesa.

"We are starting from ground zero and the only way to go is up," he said of development opportunities in the region.

Comesa say the group represents a market of 380 million people with a combined Gross National Product of $165 billion.

Aic's Metwali said the region needed unified investment laws and free movement of labour and capital to develop.

"There are obstacles in infrastructure, in transportation, in exchange rates, in barriers," Gabr said. "But when there are more obstacles there are more opportunities."-Reuters