Last night’s talks shows for Monday, 24 February
It was a fairly uneventful night on the airwaves, save for a chat with EGX boss Mohamed Farid and updates on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Unnamed energy company to IPO before Ramadan; financial services, chemicals companies after September -Farid: An unnamed energy company is expected to sell shares in an initial public offering before Ramadan, which will be observed toward the end of April this year, Farid tells Al Kahera Al Aan’s Lamees El Hadidi. Two other companies, one in the financial and payments sector and another in the chemicals sector, could go to market after September, Farid added.
The stock exchange is open for all as a channel for both saving and investing, Farid also said. There is a mistaken belief that only large investors have access to the market, but numbers don’t matter, the EGX chairman added. The bourse has been pushing to attract younger investors through online and television adverts (watch, runtime: 1:00). According to Farid, the majority of EGX investors are over 40 years old. You can watch Farid’s interview with El Hadidy here (runtime: 22:05).
Cairo, Addis Ababa, Khartoum reportedly receive GERD agreement draft: A draft agreement on the rules of filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) expected to be signed before the end of the month has reportedly been sent to the Egyptian, Ethiopian, and Sudanese capitals, but authorities denied the news, Al Hadath TV’s Washington correspondent, Pierre Ghanem, told El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 6:17). The US Treasury Department and the World Bank, which recently stepped in to mediate the GERD dispute, were preparing the draft. Delegations from the three countries should be meeting on Friday to review the draft ahead of signing an agreement.
Gov’t focuses on raising awareness about the environment: Lobna Assal phoned the environment minister for a comment about a meeting yesterday with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and efforts by the El Sisi administration to protect the environment and conserve natural resources (watch, runtime: 4:51). A recently launched presidential initiative, “prepare for green,” aims to raise environmental awareness in the country.