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Thursday, 14 September 2017

Is Egypt’s industry lagging in R&D?

The airwaves covered a variety of topics last night ranging from Egypt’s industry lagging technologically to an update from the Planning Minister on recent economic indicators.

Amr Adib thinks our auto industry should have built an electric car by now. Kol Youm’s Amr Adib pointed to the automotive industry as one of the sectors that has been lagging behind other countries. His gripes focused largely on the industry lagging on the technology front — the host was particularly vexed about why made-in-Egypt electric cars aren’t on our streets yet. He also showcased footage from the Frankfurt Motor Show, asking why Egypt isn’t participating (watch, runtime 6:08). We have neither the time nor the space to explain industrial development to the voluble talkhsow host, but perhaps he could ask the missus over cornflakes this morning.

Adib’s tech-themed episode continued with him fawning over Apple’s new lineup of gadgets — and suggesting that the new phones will run around EGP 25,000-30,000 in Egypt at the current exchange rate (watch, runtime 4:05).

Planning Minister Hala El Said talked about economic indicators with Masaa DMC’s Osama Kamal. The minister said the accelerated growth in the final quarter of the fiscal year that ended in June was broad-based. She said faster growth will improve the lot of the average Egyptian, pointing to the downtick in unemployment (watch, runtime 8:51).

Kamal moved on to talked to Suez Canal Economic Zone boss Mohab Mamish about the five agreements he signed with Germany’s Bavaria (we have more in Diplomacy + Foreign Trade). Mamish told Kamal that a delegation from the company is expected to visit the SCZone next week to get a feel for the investment potential. Mamish also said he will take his investment roadshow to Dubai next week, where he is scheduled to meet with officials from DP World to discuss their Ain Sokhna seaport project and set a general framework for the agreement (watch, runtime 13:39).

Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi dedicated the entirety of her episode to paying tribute to the late Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdy (watch, runtime 24:56).

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