During a press conference held to mark the tenth anniversary of Oracle's direct presence in Egypt, Sergio Giacoletto, Executive Vice President of Oracle Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), highlighted a number of recent milestones marking Oracle's contribution to enabling Egyptian citizens and organisations to build a competitive and successful digital economy.

"Oracle has been committed to delivering value to universities and schools across Egypt, to becoming a strategic partner to the Government, and to enabling enterprises in every sector to increase the competitiveness of the Egyptian economy as technology is one of the key drivers of economic growth for Egypt," commented Giacoletto. "Oracle Egypt has experienced consistent growth over the past decade, and this growth has been driven by a combination of delivering value to our customers, a culture of innovation, and through sound business values."

To mark Oracle's successful decade of service to customers in Egypt, Giacoletto was joined in Cairo by senior management from EMEA for a regional management meeting in part to chart the company's further investment in the region.

Egyptian eGovernment Initiative

As one of the strategic partners of the Egyptian Government, Oracle Egypt has played a central role in the eGovernment program, designed in conjunction with Oracle consultants and local partners to automate the Ministries and major Government organizations. Similarly, the Egyptian Government has shown commitment and drive to develop the IT market in Egypt in order to narrow the digital divide and thereby increase the IT export business for the benefit of the country's economy. Oracle Egypt has worked on a number of projects, including the education initiative and partner drives, to support this government mandate to use IT as an enabler for the Egyptian economy.

"Our role as a strategic partner to the Government has enabled us to work closely with those writing the policies and setting out the future for our country," commented Atef Helmy, Managing Director of Oracle Egypt. "Drawing on the resources of Oracle worldwide, recently enriched by the acquisitions of a number of companies including Siebel, Peoplesoft and JDEdwards, we have a strong portfolio of solutions, services, software and experience to offer to the public sector, giving us the flexibility to meet their needs and exceed their expectations."

Egyptian Education Initiative (EEI)

Empowering change through education is a core element of Oracle's global Education Foundation, as well as the mission of the World Economic Forum and the Egyptian Government's Egyptian Education Initiative (EEI). Leveraging Oracle's globally renowned programs, the Memorandum of Cooperation recently signed between Oracle and The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, The Ministry of Higher Education and The Ministry of Education includes a commitment from Oracle to roll out 'Think.com' programs touching more than 820,000 students and 60,000 teachers. Oracle Academy programs will serve a further 200 schools and train 6000 students, while the Oracle Academic Initiative will enable 30 colleges to train 3000 students per year.

"The Government of Egypt is committed to investing in education, as it represents an investment in the future of our country, and is an absolute necessity in order to prepare our children to integrate well into the knowledge-based society," commented Atef Helmy. "The commitment to driving a strong element of technical IT education as part of this improvement of educational standards will result in a generation entering employment equipped with recognized certifications, ready to become the thought leaders of tomorrow. Oracle has a strong focus on developing education initiatives in the countries in which it operates, and I am proud to be able to contribute to the Egyptian Educational Initiative today with a concrete plan of world renowned programs that will benefit Egypt's youth of tomorrow."

Global Support Centre

In the business world, Egypt has increasingly become a hub for Middle East and African companies looking to link services. The establishment of Oracle's 8th global Support Center in Cairo demonstrated the company's understanding of the potential for growth in the country, which was launched in December by His Excellency Dr. Tarek Kamel, Egypt's Minister of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT) and Dr. Ahmed Darwish, Minister of State for Administrative Development. The center, located within Egypt's burgeoning Smart Village business park, is now staffed by more than 350 multilingual software experts with core competencies in the areas of enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications and Oracle's technology platform, including middleware and database software.

Additionally, the company inaugurated a unique Channel Communications Center in Cairo offering the technical and support skills needed to keep partners up-to-date and ready to assist customers. Six teams cover key areas such as ISV sales, developing the Oracle E-Business Suite pipeline, and Oracle Partner Network maintenance and training.

Powering Egypt's Digital Economy

Oracle has considerably strengthened its presence in Egypt:

? In the public sector, the Government of Egypt has deployed Oracle solutions for all accounting units, budgeting and planning, and is about to launch the e-Tenders project.

? The Central Bank of Egypt, which is responsible for processing all work flow between Egyptian banks, chose Oracle solutions, as did Banque Misr and the Commercial International Bank, amongst other financial services leaders in the country.

? The telecoms market has particularly enjoyed spectacular growth over the past two years, led by key players like Telecom Egypt whose IT infrastructure and business applications are all based on Oracle's uniquely scalable technologies.

? Similarly, when oil and gas companies look to IT to enable them to diversify and grow, they too look to Oracle. Major examples include the EGPC (Egyptian General Petroleum Company), MIDOR, ENPPI, and GUPCO (Gulf Petroleum Company).

"Oracle Egypt has a strong history in this country, and this team has built an excellent reputation with its customers whether they are from the private sector, the government, or from the education sector," concluded Helmy. "We look forward to the continued growth of Oracle, and ten years of dynamic growth for the Egyptian economy, driven by a robust IT sector, with Oracle as a key player."