U.S. Embassy and Nile TV coordinate second Wordnet Satellite discussion on Y2K

The Year 2000 problem, which the whole world is facing, is getting more and more attention from local government officials and business people and also from international donor organizations in Egypt. The American Center for Press and Cultural Affairs is helping to raise Y2K awareness in Egypt through its "Satellite Discussion" series on Y2K. The second and most recent "Worldnet on Computers and the Year 2000" satellite discussion was held at the US Embassy on 3 June 1998 and featured Ms. Gayle Finch, Y2K Committee Chairperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services broadcasting from Washington D.C.

In the Sherman Hall of the US Embassy, Nile TV's Nihal Saad hosted and coordinated the local panel which included: Dr. Allah Ezz, UNDP regional officer for Trade and Technology, Dr. Osman Lotfy, former head of Arento, and businessman Mostafa Sarhank, representing the American Chamber of Commerce. It was also attended by a small group of local and international journalists and consultants from various industries.

"We won't be done in time …"

Before fielding questions from the Egyptian panelists, Ms. Finch painted a bleak picture about Y2K preparedness in her opening statement. Referring not only to her own department, not only the US Government but for the whole world, she started with, "we won't be done in time, most of the world won't be done in time. The question is how serious [the results will be]."

USAID get poor marks for it's own Y2K Preparation

Ms. Finch was candid about the problem and she has her work cut out for her. In its latest Y2K readiness self-assessment, the U.S. Government evaluated the Department of Health and Human Services in the lowest level group, demonstrating a lack of "adequate progress" on Y2K issues. It was joined on the bottom by the departments of Agriculture, Education, Energy, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Asked about the forecast for business and it's impact, Ms. Finch was straightforward with the bad news, "consumer prices will rise, health care costs will rise and the large costs of Y2K litigation will be passed on to the consumer." It gets worse, in her opinion many business will not survive the Millennium Bug, "a lot of marginal IT (Information Technology) firms are going to go under. Marginal companies in a lot of sectors will be gone".

The panel asked questions on topics ranging from security aspects, sources of funding for Y2K programs, whether The U.S. Government was giving Y2K advice to other countries and even if the U.S. would consider hiring Egyptian consultants to battle the problem. Ms. Finch stated that anyone who knows how to do computer programming - or is now getting trained in the Washington D.C. area - has an almost guaranteed job with the US Government but didn't know about rules regarding foreign consultants.

One of the last questions directed to Ms. Finch was whether she will consider flying in an aircraft at the stroke of midnight 31 December 1999. She said, with a smile, "I will not".

"It is already too late …"

Ms. Finch stressed that the issue is now "it is too late to get everything fixed and tested." She urged all governments to take the lead, get started now in every sector and make sure that adequate resources are devoted to the Y2K efforts. " We have no choice but to devote most of our resources to Y2K," she said.

One panelist asked about the rumored predictions of a Y2K induced global recession, Ms. Finch allowed that it was a "quite possible scenario. Bankruptcies could be a problem. The employment rate will be a telling indicator". All in all, not very good news on any front.

So what are the prospects for Egypt on Y2K? The consensus seems to be that Egypt is behind schedule - along with most countries in the region - just now getting through the awareness stage. At the Arab-Y2K conference in Cairo this past May, it was reported that the Egyptian Y2K national committee hopes to have all systems Y2K compliant by June 1999. That is a very ambitious goal and will require enormous resources both technical and financial. We'll keep you posted.

Y2K-Contract Watch

Y2K RFP out for Egypt's Power Grid Y2K problems.

In the realm of Y2K, arguably, the most important sector is power. If the electricity generation, transmission and delivery systems fail or are severely degraded by the Y2K problem it won't matter very much if the business and manufacturing computers are fixed or not, they won't be running very long without electricity. Even the backup generators may have Y2K problems in them! USAID's first major Y2K project for Egypt is naturally in the power sector. They have issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for technical assistance for the Egyptian Electricity Authority on all aspects of the Year 2000 problem. Not a minute too soon.

Y2K Watch-Egypt wants your input. Send your comments, ideas and rumors via email to y2kwatch@y2kegypt.com.

Kilen Matthews is an international Information Technology and Year 2000 consultant for Y2KEgypt LLC (http://www.y2kegpyt.com) and can be reached by email at kilenm@y2kegypt.com.