Egypt intends to invite Russian IT companies to the country

Cairo intends to organize a conference for Russian IT companies, RBC was told in the Egyptian Ministry of Communications. The country is interested in Russian technologies, including in the field of integration of various national payment systems

Egypt is interested in Russian IT technologies, including in the field of integration of various national payment systems, and intends to organize a conference with the participation of Russian companies in the coming months, Khaled El-Attar, Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technologies, told RBC.

“I am here to expand relations with the Russian IT industry. We are trying to organize a kind of conference so that Russian companies come to Egypt and start interacting with Egyptian companies <...>. I met with many representatives of NGOs and associations of our industry, we would like to organize everything in a short time. Within three months,” El-Attar said in an interview with RBC during a visit to Moscow. “Russia has technologies that meet our interests,” he said and added that now only two Russian IT companies have their branches in Egypt.

The deputy minister said that during the visit he had meetings with representatives of Kaspersky Lab, since this Russian company has "very good security solutions." Cairo is also interested in other Russian IT products, including payment solutions. However, the official noted, they all need customization. “Now all products are in Russian or English, but we need them in Arabic,” he explained.

“At the moment you have payment solutions locally. We would like to have similar payment solutions. We have our own national payment scheme in Egypt (Meeza. - ), but it is very important to [understand] how to make our national payment scheme work with other national payment schemes. I think this is the future. We are moving towards a decentralized payment regime,” El-Attar said. He also pointed out the importance of coming to common standards in the field of the exchange of documents, information, bilateral payments, trade and other areas.

Speaking about the possible impact of sanctions against Russia on bilateral cooperation in the field of IT technologies, the Deputy Minister noted that he avoids talking about politics. “Technology opposes any barriers: barriers of time, geography, and so on,” El-Attar explained, adding that he was not familiar with the specifics of the sanctions, but technologies were created in order to “overcome any barriers, taking into account possible resources.”

In November 2021, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development organized a business mission of Russian IT companies to Egypt to present high-tech solutions in the production of telecom equipment, cybersecurity industries and streaming services. RusHytechExport acted as the mission coordinator.

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In March 2022, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) included Kaspersky Lab JSC in the list of businesses that may pose a threat to the national security of the United States. In September 2017, the US authorities ordered the state institutions of the country to refuse the products and services of Kaspersky Lab within three months. The Ministry of Security reported that they were concerned about the connections of some representatives of Kaspersky Lab with Russian intelligence and other government agencies; and also about Russian legislation that allows intelligence agencies to force companies to provide information of interest to them.