The ICT Minister Yasser ElKady has met with the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) President Ahmed El-Wakeel and the General Division of Computers and Software Chairman and FEDCOC Board member Khalil Hassan Khalil, in the presence of the General Division CEO Mohamed Azzam where they discussed means of cooperation between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), FEDCOC and the General Division of the Computers and Software.

ElKady has said that the coming period will witness a growing role for the ICT sector, being a catalyst for development of the national economy, raising its efficiency towards more competitiveness. This in addition to increasing the sector's contribution to GDP.

During the meeting, a number of proposals made by FEDCOC have been discussed to implant technology in various commercial, industrial and service sectors, such as "encoding traders" project using barcode technology on which many technological applications can be set up. This will contribute to advancing the domestic economy, as well as spreading the "economic geographic information system" in all the chambers of commerce, depending on the experiences gained in the pilot project which MCIT carried out in Alexandria Chamber of Commerce. This is in addition to the deployment and activation of e-commerce system.

For his part, El-Wakeel has stated that the cooperation between the chambers of commerce and FEDCOC with MCIT has been actively maintained since the establishment of MCIT in 1999. MCIT has carried out numerous projects for the benefit of the chambers of commerce and FEDCOC to modernize their information structure and to provide better services for more than 4.3 million dealers, manufacturers and service providers affiliated to the Chambers.

Khalil has said that the meeting discussed cooperation aspects between the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and the General Division, and that there are a lot of services are provided for the benefit of the General Division member companies in particular, and the Egyptian information society in general, through a collaboration agreement between ITIDA and the General Division. This agreement aims at raising the efficiency of companies and helping them to acquire advanced technologies that contribute to increasing Egyptian exports. A new initiative is due to be released, in cooperation with ITIDA, to resolve problems facing the governorates in the ICT field—in four governorates as an initial venture.

At the end of the meeting, the parties ascertained the significance of having a system for realizing integration between the commercial register department and the chambers of commerce, and the necessity of unifying databases between them to provide special services for all Egyptian economy segments.

They also ascertained the need to transform the new FEDCOC building to a smart one, especially that this building includes the Union of African Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Professions where Egypt is the host country and the current chairman of the Union of African Chambers.

They emphasized that cooperation between MCIT and FEDCOC—as a representative of dealers, manufacturers and service providers in all economic fields—will contribute to boosting production, supporting the national economy, raising the competitiveness of the Egyptian economy and attracting and encouraging direct investments, whether foreign or local.