In the past few years, the e-commerce phenomenon has been recognized by the Egyptian business community as an incredibly effective way to promote business, both domestic and global.
Helal Sheta, vice-chairman of the exporter's section at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, told the The Egyptian Gazette that Egyptian exporters had not yet managed to make use of e-commerce.
“Most export deals are concluded through personal relations taking into consideration the prices and specifications of goods as well as norms and rate of consumption on the target markets,'' he told the paper. He added that exporters had much to gain by employment of modern, electronic methods of trade.
Sheta noted that only 250 of 40,000 Egyptian exporters were major outfits and urged the government to support small exporters by helping them participate in international exhibitions to promote their products.
Mohammed Ramadan, director of the publications department at the cabinet information and decision support center, called for a dissemination of e-commerce education among producers and exporters, as well as other members of society.
But he added that e-commerce "as an advanced trading method, will impose a fierce confrontation with the traditional methods [of trade] used in Egypt."
IT experts have said that improvements in e-commerce in Egypt require more than just education, and that local companies must be certified by international ratings agencies. “They must achieve a certain international standard, like ISO [International Standard of operation]," said one Cairo-based tech consultant.
"And, of course, nothing's going to change until they've implemented new export laws. Right now it's very tough to efficiently export their products." — (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
