Thales appoints new Country Director in Egypt

• With over 40 years of presence and more than 500 employees in the country, Thales has been a historical trusted partner for Egypt’s public and private sectors

Thales, a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, Security, Space and Transportation, today announced the appointment of Sherif Barakat as the new Country Director of Egypt. He will be responsible for driving the growth, especially as the country focuses on its strategic plan Egypt Vision 2030 to drive economic and social prosperity to its citizens.

Sherif Barakat, an Egyptian national, brings over 20 years of experience covering multiple geographies and industries. A seasoned executive with experience in Technology, Digital Transformation and Telecommunications, Sherif Barakat’s previous role was VP & CCO of Samsung Egypt. He has a master’s degree in Engineering from the American University in Cairo and he has also served as a Country Director in both Saudi Arabia and Egypt with his previous employer, Samsung, as well as holding leadership roles across North Africa with Nokia prior to this. He will lead a team of over 500 employees in Egypt and build on the 40-year presence of Thales in the country.

He will work closely on building Thales’ historical presence within Egypt and establish the group as the preferred partner to the Egyptian Armed Forces as well as the public and private sector across the group’s entire portfolio.

 “As Egypt begins to realise its Vision 2030 socio-economic plan, it’s an exciting time to be leading the Thales team in the country. Thales has a historic heritage of operations in Egypt, and we remain committed to supporting the nation’s focus on promoting security, safety and growth. Through our strong local presence, including joint ventures and academic partnerships, we will continue to be the go-to partner for Egypt in driving its growth into the nation’s exciting future.”

Sherif Barakat - Country Director – Egypt, Thales

In transportation, Thales had a longstanding track record of providing fully integrated solutions for Cairo Metro since the implementation of Line 1 in the late 1980’s. Since then, the group has been awarded several contracts for the manufacturing, supply, build and maintenance of the Automatic Fare Collection system of Lines 1 and 2 of the Greater Cairo metro. The TransCity™ solution, which uses Web 2.0 technologies secured by Thales, offers the best guarantees for the management of Cairo’s fare collection system. It supervises all data generated across the existing network and will accommodate future network evolutions and extensions.

In addition, the National Authority of Tunnels (NAT) chose Thales to supply a contactless fare collection system as well as an integrated supervision and communication system for various phases of Line 3.

Thales also won a contract from the Egyptian National Railways for the modernisation of the signalling systems on the Cairo-Alexandria corridor, which is the busiest section of the Egyptian Railways network. It was the first contract issued to a company under Egypt’s modernisation plan.

Arab International Optronics, a joint venture of Thales with the National Service Products Organisation, promotes the local production of optical and optronic equipment. Thales has an established partnership with NANSC, Egypt’s Air Navigation Service Provider to deliver state-of-the-art Thales products, ranging from air traffic surveillance radars, modern navaids and air traffic control simulators for the Egyptian Aviation Academy as well as the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system and the tower system for Cairo International Airport.

Thales provides sensors and communications for the four Gowind Corvettes purchased in 2014 by the Egyptian Naval Forces. In 2015, Egypt purchased 24 Rafale with Thales equipment representing 25% of the total value of the contract, while Thales equipment also represents 20% of the value of the contract for the FREMM multi-mission frigate which was purchased by the Egyptian Navy. In the aerospace sector, the group has supplied radars, control centres and navigation aids for Egypt’s civil aviation authorities since the 1980’s.

Contributing to enhanced security, Thales has equipped the Electronic Stock Exchange with solutions to secure Cairo and Alexandria’s trading systems.

About Thales
The people we all rely on to make the world go round – they rely on Thales. Our customers come to us with big ambitions: to make life better, to keep us safer. Combining a unique diversity of expertise, talents and cultures, our architects design and deliver extraordinary high technology solutions. Solutions that make tomorrow possible, today. From the bottom of the oceans to the depth of space and cyberspace, we help our customers think smarter and act faster - mastering ever greater complexity and every decisive moment along the way. With 66,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of €15.9 billion in 2018

PRESS CONTACT
Tarek Solimane
Communications director Africa and Middle East
M: +971501045934
tarek.solimane@thalesgroup.com 

© Press Release 2019