Mastercard Inc. (NYSE:MA) has recently put in place a number of new plans to strengthen its position in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The first step in this process is for MA and Infinios Financial Services, a Bahrain-based financial technology company, to work together. The partnership is the start of what is thought to be the region’s first wholesale travel program. The program is made by putting together Mastercard’s open pricing structure and Infinios’s deep knowledge of technology. This means that the program will work better and have more features.

When the Mastercard Wholesale Program is available, it is expected that business-to-business travel payments will be made automatically and with a higher level of security. This gives travel merchants in the MENA region a glimmer of hope because it frees them from the inefficient manual payment methods that are still used widely in the travel industry.

The most recent cooperation is good timing because it comes at a time when the tourism industry is steadily recovering from the problems caused by the COVID pandemic and people are slowly regaining confidence in their ability to travel. And since more than 400,000 travel businesses are part of the Mastercard Wholesale Program, MA is in a great position to take advantage of the growth opportunities in the MENA travel sector.

Mastercard also gave a principal membership license to the fintech division of Astra Tech, which is one of the most successful technology companies in the MENA region. This was announced at the same time as the partnership with Infinios. This part is called “PayBy.” This means that Astra will be able to give out both digital and physical cards with the Mastercard brand on them. This will increase the market for MA’s products.

Mastercard and the Egyptian bank Banque Misr signed a long-term deal to work together just one day before the above-mentioned two projects were announced. Under the terms of the agreement, Mastercard will use its cutting-edge digital payment technology to help the bank expand its range of digital payment options. The goal of this partnership is to give Egypt’s people who don’t have bank accounts access to easy-to-use digital solutions.

Mastercard has often asked the financial technology companies in the MENA region for help when it comes to promoting the digital transformation of the region. As the digital economy in the area continues to grow, Massachusetts would be smart to form partnerships with technology platforms or make big investments in the area. They can do either of these two things. The growth of the digital economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is being driven in large part by things like the increasing number of people who have smartphones and access to the Internet.

Mastercard stock has gone up by 2.9% in the past year, while the industry as a whole has gone down by 3.2%.

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