How has Egypt's ICT sector responded to Covid-19?

As part of its ongoing research into the impact of Covid-19 on the Egyptian economy, Oxford Business Group’s Regional Editor Harry van Schaick recently interviewed the country's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Amr Talaat, to explore his insights into how the pandemic has affected the country's digital transformation agenda.

The interview is part of a broader series of research conducted by Oxford Business Group on the ICT sector's response to Covid-19 and the wider implications not only for the sector but also for the public and private sectors' efforts of digital transformation across the economy. The research initiatives, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, will provide an in-depth analysis of Egypt's response to the pandemic from public and private sector actors using statistics, case studies, and detailed written analysis compiled from numerous discussions with key business leaders in the sector.

ICT in particular is of utmost importance given that digital communication has been one of the key pillars of ensuring people could work safely yet effectively during the pandemic as well as being a key enabler of ensuring the country's large population was able to access the goods and services it required.

In light of its positive outlook for the rest of 2020 in conjunction with a dynamic evolution of its digitalisation efforts implemented prior to Covid-19, Egypt's ICT sector is set to become among the most central in the country in the near term. This has made it even more important for the business community to hear directly from key decision makers such as Minister Talaat, in vidcasts such as this OBG Talk.