The agreement to launch the joint venture Emarat Misr was yesterday signed by Emarat and Egyptian officials in Cairo.

An investment of 100 million Egyptian pounds will be pumped into Emarat Misr (Emarat Egypt), in which the two Egyptian partners; Midtap and Midor will own 48 and 2 per cent respectively while Emarat will own 50 per cent, Rashid Al Shamsi, Emarat general manager, told Gulf News, from Cairo.

Under the agreement, the top management team will be represented by executives from Midtap and Emarat. Emarat will dedicate its technical expertise and marketing capabilities.

Emarat Misr's network will comprise at least 35 service stations in Cairo and Alexandria in the first stage and could double to include the governorate of El Wadi El Gideed and others depending on market demand.

"The UAE's Emarat stations offer customers more than just petrol and we hope to do that at Emarat Misr, should the introduction of our several services become feasible in the Egyptian petroleum retail market."

The first station, added Al Shamsi, is expected to be ready by year-end and the logo and designs for the company were approved. Land for the stations will be rented from the private sector or allocated by the Egyptian government.

Despite heavy competition from Mobil, Esso, Caltex and Egyptian petroleum companies; Al Tawoon and Misr Petroleum, Al Shamsi is optimistic with the new services Emarat will take to the Egyptian markets.

In the UAE, Emarat plans to launch a special bakery section with well-known branded coffees, which will also be taken to Egypt. "We are in talks with Starbucks and Costa for the launch of mini coffee shops in our Egyptian stations."

Despite the Egyptian market's limited profit margin resulting from the fixed oil selling prices and cost of oil products, Al Shamsi stressed that Emarat Misr will be profitable because the market is not subject to the global variations like the UAE market.

"This is beneficial for us in Egypt."