The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has received the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, who is visiting Egypt, heading an official delegation that includes representatives of major businesses in Latvia.
The meeting discussed enhancing cooperation between Egypt and Latvia and exploring investment opportunities in the ICT sector.
The Latvian Ambassador-designate to Egypt Ilmārs Breidaks and senior officials from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) attended the meeting.
Talaat welcomed the Latvian Foreign Minister to Egypt and said he looked forward to strengthening ties between the two countries and enhancing cooperation in ICT fields. He highlighted that Latvia is Egypt’s biggest business partner among the Baltic countries and commended the progress achieved in the Latvian ICT sector over the past few years.
The ICT Minister stressed the significance of opening up new horizons of investment cooperation and exchange of experiences between the two countries in areas of interest. He noted that the Egyptian ICT sector offers abundant opportunities for investment as Egypt strives to achieve digital transformation across all state sectors.
Talaat presented MCIT efforts in creating a talent pool and help youth gain competitive advantages to work in global markets, thus creating opportunities for cooperation between the two countries by availing Egyptian talents in the Latvian ICT sector.
The meeting serves as a starting point for further discussions between the two countries' government institutions and private sectors to discuss potential cooperation projects, explore opportunities, and establish economic partnerships between Latvian and Egyptian businesses, the ICT Minister remarked. He promised that Latvian companies would receive investment incentives and have the obstacles confronting them in the Egyptian market removed, guaranteeing partnerships between Egyptian and Latvian ICT companies would be successful.
For his part, the Latvian Foreign Minister stated that Egypt and Latvia share the relentless pursuit of facing today’s challenges and tapping into the great potential of advanced technologies to respond to those challenges, providing multiple opportunities for cooperation between the two countries.
Rinkēvičs said that he looked forward to strengthening cooperation with Egypt in ICT domains, especially since the ICT scene in both Egypt and Latvia can harbor the enhanced collaboration and partnership between the two countries.
The Latvian Ambassador to Egypt pointed out that his country is keen on strengthening bilateral and regional cooperation with Egypt, adding that several Latvian businesses seek to explore areas of cooperation and take advantage of young Egyptian talents.
Following the meeting, the two ministers chaired a roundtable attended by Chairman of Egypt Post Sherif Farouk, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Amr Mahfouz, Assistant ICT Minister for Strategy and Implementation Sherine El-Guindy, Assistant ICT Minister for Global Information Infrastructure (GII) Mohamed Nasr Eldin, Advisor to the ICT Minister for Technology Innovation, Electronics Industry and Training Hossam Osman, and Egypt Post Vice Chairperson for digital transformation Ehab Abu Bakr.
From the Latvian side, the roundtable was attended by Deputy Director General at Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) Iveta Strupkaja and officials from major companies in Latvia.
The roundtable reviewed investment opportunities and proposed partnerships between the two countries in several ICT fields, including FinTech, digital innovation, cybersecurity, and research and development (R&D).
The representatives of the Latvian companies said they looked forward to exploring the Egyptian ICT market closely and partnering up with Egyptian businesses operating in that sector, which, according to global reports, is one of the most promising and highest-growing markets.
