The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has met with the Founder and Director of HMD Global—maker of Nokia phones—Jean-Francois Baril. They discussed the company’s plans for expanding in Egypt, increasing manufacturing operations, and exporting Nokia regular cell phones and smartphones from the Egyptian Silicon Industries Corporation (E-SICO) plant in New Assiut Technology Park.
The meeting was attended by the COO at HMD Global Alain Lejeune, Vice President – AMEA Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, E-SICO Chairman Mohamed Salem, General Manager at HMD Global – Egypt and North Africa Tamer ElGamal, and Electronics Industry Program Director at the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Yasser AbdelBary.
During the meeting, the ICT Minister emphasized the government’s commitment to strengthening Egypt’s position as a regional hub for electronics manufacturing, fostering an investment-friendly environment in the sector, and providing facilitations, aligned with the presidential initiative Egypt Makes Electronics (EME).
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) is actively promoting partnerships between international mobile phone manufacturers and local companies, Talaat highlighted. These collaborations aim to facilitate knowledge transfer, generate employment opportunities for youth, and promote the indigenization of the electronics industry. Ultimately, this strategy seeks to diminish imports and enhance the industry's contribution to the economy, he added.
Talaat revealed that Egypt has attracted major international electronics manufacturers to invest in its ICT sector over the past few years. He commended Nokia's expansion plans to manufacture both regular cell phones and smartphones in collaboration with a local partner and to leverage the talents of Egyptian youth in Upper Egypt.
For his part, Baril emphasized HMD Global’s dedication to expanding its manufacturing operations of both regular cell phones and smartphones in Egypt, in line with the agreement signed with E-SICO. He underscored the company's commitment to these plans for the years 2024 and 2025, which aim to annually export 4 million phones to African markets and 600,000 phones to North African markets. Additionally, the company plans to allocate 2 million phones for local consumption within the Egyptian market.
Baril further stated that HMD Global aims to establish Egypt as a regional hub for manufacturing and exporting its mobile phones to foreign markets. The company is dedicated to increasing the added value and the use of local components in its products manufactured in Egypt. This decision to expand operations is a response to the flourishing electronics manufacturing scene in Egypt, which has experienced significant growth in recent years. This growth is attributed to several factors, including infrastructure development, consistent government support for the industry, and the creation of an appealing investment climate for major international companies.
