By: Nahla Muqalad

 On the sidelines of the Africa Post Forum, and in the presence of Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Amr Talaat, and the CEO of DHL Express Middle East and North Africa, Nour Suliman, DHL Express, the world’s largest Express network, signed a joint cooperation agreement with the Egyptian National Post Authority on planning the future of E-Commerce in Africa by providing new and innovative services to invest in Express shipping to and from the African continent, and focus on Egypt as a major center for development.

The agreement was signed between the Head of Egyptian National Post Authority Eng. Essam El Saghir and General Manager of DHL Express in Egypt Ahmed El Fangary, in order to facilitate the E-Commerce strategy of Egypt Post, and to support small and medium commercial business in Egypt.

The agreement will provide courier and re-export services at the post office for assembly at Cairo International Port. DHL will also support Egypt Post with its global expertise to develop the required processes in the field of E-Commerce to help position the Post Office in Egypt as a distribution center for Africa. The Egyptian Post Company will secure the necessary infrastructure for those activities that comply with global requirements and standards as in other countries, this would allow African countries to facilitate the E-Commerce operations across the continent. The cooperation agreement also provides for the optimal usage of the 4000 Egyptian Post branches which are spread all over the Republic as a Drop off for the company's customers.

The CEO of DHL Express Middle East and North Africa, Nour Suliman stated: “We are glad to sign this agreement that will strengthen the DHL network and support our network growth plans across the country.” Ahmed El Fangary DHL Express Egypt Country Manager said, "This agreement is the cornerstone on which the future of E-Commerce in the African continent will be based, in addition to placing Egypt as a center to the region’s logistics sector."

Both institutions will choose the distinguishing sites of the Egyptian Post, which will provide the emerging companies with the necessary knowledge to sell online through the world.