Yasser Shaker, the newly appointed CEO of Orange Egypt, has emphasised the importance of the Egyptian market for the company during a recent meeting with Yasser ElKady, Egypt's Minister of Communication and Information Technology (MICT).

Prior to his appointment, effective 1 May, Shaker has served as CTIO for Orange in Middle East and Africa since 2015.

Shaker will lead the company six months after former CEO Jean-Marc Harion directed the telco through the purchase of 4G and fixed-line licences in Egypt for US$484 million and US$11.262 million respectively.

Harion resigned in April 2018, less than a year after he was appointed, with no further details made available.

In July last year El Kady met with several members of the Orange Group Executive Committee and Harion in Orange global headquarters in Paris after which Orange pledged that it would be offering monetary support to Egypt's tech start-ups.

Mettling described the presence of Orange in Egypt as one of "utmost importance to our future development in Africa and the Middle East..." during that visit.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry, Minister ElKady congratulated Shaker and highlighted the importance of strengthening partnerships as part of the country's national strategy of digital transformation.

Shaker pledged to ensure a closer working relationship with the ICT ministry in order to ensure that the country's digital transformation objectives.

A tweet posted by Bruno Mettling, President of Orange Middle East and Africa and Chairman of Orange Egypt, read: "I'm confident that Yasser will face successfully the challenges and wish him the best for his new professional endeavour."

Mari-Noëlle Jégo-L, Executive Vice President at Orange and Vice Chairman of the GSMA said Shaker deserves the responsibility and has done remarkable work as CTIO for Orange in MEA.