January 13, 2009
“Logistics and Competitiveness of the Egyptian Economy” workshop
The first of three keynote speakers was Dr. Essam Sharaf, President of the Arab-African Association for Logistics and Transport and Former Minister of Transportation. His presentation, “Transportation, Logistics and Competitiveness,” stressed the historical and contemporary importance of the transportation and logistics sectors in Egypt. A brief word from Mr. Abd Al Rahman Awad, Deputy-President of the Arab-African Centre for Marketing and Consulting, provided commentary on Dr. Sharaf’s presentation followed by Dr. Farouq Shaqweer, Ex-Executive Director of the African Development Bank, who elaborated on the origins and importance of competitiveness to the Egyptian economy. Finally, Dr. David Maunder, Executive Manger of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transportation International, gave the presentation “Developing Human Resources to Achieve Competitiveness in Logistics and Transportation.” The main message was that logistics and transportation sectors have a lot to gain from more qualified human resources. The workshop discussion led to the conclusion that the transportation and logistics sectors are both critical to competitiveness and have massive potential for growth. However, Egypt lacks the capital investments and government regulation needed to fulfill this promise.
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