The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has witnessed the signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement between HMD Global Oy, the exclusive licensee of Nokia phones, and Etisal for Advanced Industries (EAI) in Egypt.
The Agreement aims to produce one million mobile devices of different models, whether feature phones or smartphones within the current year. This is along with doubling the production during the coming period.
The Agreement was signed by General Manager of HMD in Egypt Tamer El-Gamal and EAI Managing Director Ahmed Abu Ouf. The signing ceremony was attended by the Chief Operation Officer of HMD Global Oy Alain Lejeune, the Executive Vice President for Products Wen Chang, the CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Amr Mahfouz, ITIDA Vice President Hossam Osman, and several officials from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), EAI and HMD Global attended.
The ICT Minister stated that the Agreement highlights the state’s consolidated efforts to create an enabling environment for fostering global companies’ investments in Egypt. It also emphasizes the government’s keenness to encourage and enable the private sector to manufacture electronics through Egyptian factories, transfer knowledge and experiences and indigenize the electronics industry. This process is contributing to developing this significant industry and creating specialized job opportunities for young people in electronics and ICTs.
The ICT Minister pointed out that Egypt is taking steady steps towards deepening local manufacturing to implement “Egypt Makes Electronics (EME)” presidential initiative. EME aims at enhancing Egypt’s ranking in the field of electronics design and manufacturing.
In his remarks, EAI Managing Director emphasized that the Agreement aims to produce Nokia mobile phones, required by HMD Global, of high international quality. This production includes electronic components, compilation, packaging, and testing to be completely similar to international products in terms of quality and efficiency. This Agreement achieves Egypt’s strategy to indigenize the technology industry and make Egypt a regional hub for advanced industries.
El-Gamal added that according to the Agreement, HMD Global will provide EAI factory with the production requirements of raw materials, inspection and testing tools, as well as calibration equipment necessary for the production process. HMD will transfer technological expertise and technical support to the manufacturer in Egypt by training Egyptian calibers by Nokia experts from Finland. This is in addition to providing all means of support to benefit from HMD research and development (R&D) centers to provide the best specifications and products that meet customer needs.
It is worth noting that EAI, through its 6th of October factory, is developing and manufacturing advanced electronics in Egypt, with a production capacity of more than two million units within the current year, to annually reach ten million units in the coming years.
Source:
The Egyptian Gazette, the oldest English-language daily newspaper in the Middle East
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