International Business Opportunities

Beginning April 15, 2007, Romania will reintroduce import VAT at customs for imports from non-EU countries for a fixed period.

The Romanian government said the measure will not affect those importers who brought in significant imports and met the criteria to be granted a VAT-postponing certificate in 2006.
The decision was made as the National Agency of Fiscal Administration found that fiscal evasion was on the increase since the country suspended import VAT for non-EU countries in January 2007. […]

According to the Romanian government there is a risk that VAT-exempted goods supposed to be delivered to a EU country do not reach their destination but are placed on the black economy.

15 out of the 27 EU countries currently apply the system of import VAT at customs. Out of the ten countries that acceded to the EU in 2004, Estonia, Czech Republic and Lithuania are currently applying the simplified payment system. Hungary used the simplified VAT payment system at the accession date, but later suspended it for the same reasons Romania did. (Source)

Egypt aims to compete in the offshore outsourcing market with India and European countries such as Ireland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and others.

Foreign language skills and low labour costs could make Egypt an outsourcing destination, especially for European companies. The country is ideally situated to be a near-shore outsourcing destination for Europe; furthermore, the salaries for staff working on offshore accounts are pretty low.
Xceed, a leading Egyptian call centre company, says salaries range from around €300 to €350 per month.

Hassan El Shawarby, sales manager at another call centre company, Raya, said:

“We will be cheaper than India by 20 to 30 per cent on the high quality call-centre services.”

According a list of top offshore outsourcing destinations compiled by AT Kearney, Egypt is being ranked No.12.

Mohammed Omran, CEO of the Egyptian government-funded Information Technology Industry Development Agency (Itida), said:

“One of the key challenges is for Egypt to develop our own expertise in order to be able to compete with the world’s outsourcing companies… and compete against India, Ireland and eastern Europe.” ( source )

Gartner, the world’s largest IT research and advisory company, estimates offshore outsourcing spending will surpass $50 billion for information technology, and $24 billion for business process services, by 2007.

According to Tom Lambert, President of The International Centre for Consulting Excellence, about 11 per cent of the total service sector in the US and Europe could be outsourced by 2010, with financial services playing a very important role in the industry.

It is estimated, India, leading country in the global offshoring industry, will face a skill shortage of at least half a million within five years.
Because of that, increasingly companies are looking to new outsourcing destinations such as China, Philippines, Russia, Ireland, Czech Republic and other Eastern Europe countries.

( source )