DISPUTE WATCH- Egypt and UAE’s Emaar sign preliminary settlement agreement on El Nasr dispute: Property developer Emaar Misr has signed a preliminary agreement with the Egyptian government on a proposed settlement to resolve a dispute with state-owned El Nasr Housing over the Emirati company’s alleged failure to develop 3 mn sqm of land allotted to it in 2005, Al Shorouk reports. The proposed settlement, which will be presented to state-owned El Nasr, involves Emaar paying El Nasr a cash settlement in return for granting them time to complete the Uptown Cairo project, Saher Faseeh, El Nasr’s legal advisor said, without providing further details. The two sides have also agreed to freeze legal proceedings until they reach a final settlement. El Nasr’s general assembly is expected to convene within the next two weeks to discuss the settlement and end the dispute.

Background: El Nasr brought an arbitration case against the local subsidiary of UAE-based Emaar in June 2017, claiming the company had failed to develop 3 mn sqm of land allotted to it in 2005, and that it unlawfully took 215k sqm within the borders of its Uptown Cairo project. The dispute also included a 500k sqm land plot, which Emaar was accused of using for construction instead of roadworks and green areas. The cabinet in July said the two sides had reached a settlement agreement, but it remains unclear what prompted them to go back to the drawing board. Deputy Justice Minister for Arbitration and International Disputes Judge Moustafa El Bahabety had told Enterprise the settlement would see both sides drop all arbitration cases against each other and Emaar pay EGP 100 mn.