President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Orange Group cEO Christel Heydemann. The meeting was attended by Minister of Communications and Information Technology Eng. Raafat Hindi, Orange Middle East and Africa CEO Eng. Yasser Shaker, and Orange Egypt CEO Eng. Hesham Mahran.
Presidential Spokesman Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy said the meeting focused on areas of cooperation with Orange Group in the telecommunications and information technology sectors, in light of the Group’s extensive expertise in telecommunications, digital transformation, and the development of technological systems.
President El-Sisi commended the Group’s success in Egypt in the areas of telecommunications services, digital transformation, smart platforms, community development, and digital education. He expressed Egypt’s interest in increasing the Group’s investments in the Egyptian market, given the promising opportunities it offers for growth and expansion, as well as the numerous initiatives launched by the State in recent years to achieve a qualitative leap in building and developing the capabilities of Egyptian youth and empowering them to make effective use of modern technologies.
For her part, the Orange Group CEO expressed her appreciation for meeting with President El-Sisi, reaffirming that the Group’s successes in Egypt, achieved in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and various state institutions, represent a successful model that could be leveraged and replicated in other countries in the region, particularly in Africa. Heydemann also praised the Egyptian government’s efforts to support startups across various governorates, expressing her appreciation for the initiatives and programs launched by the State to develop youth skills, foster innovation, and support entrepreneurship.
President El-Sisi expressed his interest in exploring opportunities for cooperation with Orange Group in implementing the second phase of the National Digital Health Project, leveraging the Group’s advanced expertise in digital infrastructure, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and systems integration. He also stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation between the Egyptian government and Orange Group to prepare and qualify Egyptian youth for the future labor market through specialized training programs and opportunities in artificial intelligence, data analytics, cloud computing, and cybersecurity, as well as supporting their acquisition of internationally recognized professional certifications in cooperation with global partners in the technology sector.
As part of the President’s directives to expand digital capacity-building programs for Egyptian youth, Orange Group announced training grants for approximately 200,000 trainees in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, including opportunities to obtain internationally recognized certifications. The Group also allocated €25 million to support startups operating in artificial intelligence and advanced technologies and committed to supporting a number of Egyptian universities by equipping them with modern technology laboratories. These laboratories will enable students to keep pace with the latest practical applications and acquire the skills needed to excel in advanced digital technology fields.