Cabinet OKs our Africa Finance Corporation membership, potentially unlocking big-ticket investments

TL;DR

Cabinet OKs our Africa Finance Corporation membership, potentially unlocking big-ticket investments. (Cabinet Watch)
Egyptian companies in violation of online sales tax reporting requirements face prosecution (Taxation)
NBE, Banque Misr arrange loans worth EGP 3 bn for two state-run aviation firms. (Debt Watch)
Sawiris wants those Chilean copper revenues. (Mining)
Egypt, Qatar leaders meet at Baghdad summit for the first time since reconciliation. (Diplomacy)
Hisense plans USD 170 mn investment + Paralympians steal the show. (Last Night’s Talk Shows)
US Fed Head Powell says tapering could begin this year. (What We’re Tracking Today)
Egypt scored six medals at Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. (What We’re Tracking Today)
Planet Finance — ADX, DFM extend trading by one hour + SEC’s next target? Brokerage apps.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to the final days of August. We have a busy news morning for you, so let’s jump right in.

THE BIG STORY here at home has to be our potential membership in the African Finance Corporation, which cabinet gave the green light on Thursday, potentially unlocking bns in fresh investment. A close second: The Tax Authority is putting a shot over the bow of e-commerce players who aren’t playing ball. It’s the latest in a series of moves the taxman has made to capture what it sees as its fair share of business done online. We have chapter and verse on both stories in this morning’s news well, below.

(And before you complain: We don’t like tax grabs any more than you do, but Egypt isn’t alone in this. Countries around the world are doing their damndest to (a) make certain local online players are fully registered with the tax system and (b) to claim a chunk of revenues generated in-country by multinational players including the FAANG gang.)

THE BIG STORY ABROAD? There are three of them for you on this fine morning. Joe Biden has warned that a second attack on Kabul airport is likely in the coming 24-36 hours. The news comes after a suicide bombing on Thursday by Islamic State offshoot ISIS-K left at least 60 Afghans and 13 US military personnel dead. The US has begun withdrawing its troops from the airport as the 31 August deadline for its evacuation from the country looms. Evacuations are winding down and the UK said Saturday that its last evacuation flight had left the country. The story is everywhere from Bloomberg and the Financial Times to Reuters.

Also vying for your attention this morning: Fed boss Jay Powell says the US central bank will start dialing back bond purchases by the end of the year (we have more on that story below), and a regional summit in Baghdad saw early signs of rapprochement between onetime rivals including Egypt and Qatar — and Saudi and Iran. We have more on the latter in this morning’s Speed Round and Last Night’s Talk Shows, below.

** CATCH UP QUICK with the top stories from Thursday’s edition of EnterprisePM:

Aman completes issuance of securitized bonds: Raya’s subsidiary Aman issued EGP 585 mn in securitized bonds, with a little help from CIB and the National Bank of Egypt.
Speed Medical won’t acquire Prime Speed Medical: Speed Medical announced it will no longer acquire a 70% stake in its sister company Prime Speed in an unusually frank disclosure to the EGX.
GM could invest more in Egypt: That’s the key (albeit vague) takeaway from the Trade Minister Nevine Gamea’s meeting with officials from the US auto giant during which they discussed its expansion plans in Egypt.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY-

SMART POLICY- The social solidarity ministry will launch a sign language version of its relationship and marriage education platform Mawadda, giving persons with hearing disabilities access to the platform’s video content, Amwal Al Ghad report.

The Health Ministry reported 251 new covid-19 infections yesterday, up from 234 the day before and 203 cases on Thursday. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 287,644 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 8 new deaths, bringing the country’s total death toll to 16,714.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

OPEC+ countries are widely expected to proceed with plans to undo oil production cuts when they meet on Wednesday as oil prices recover, according to a Bloomberg survey. The majority of traders and analysts surveyed agree that the 23-nation alliance — led by Saudi Arabia and Russia — will move ahead with the planned output hike in their meeting this week as the “uncertainties over the world economy and the growth recovery in China have largely peeled away,” one analyst said, noting that OPEC+ will likely stick to the plan if the recovery continues. OPEC+ had reached an agreement late last month to gradually increase production till the end of 2022, extending the supply cuts to December 2022 instead of April.

Egypt hosts Digi Sign Africa this week: The three-day advertising and digital printing exhibition gets underway at the Cairo International Convention Centre on Wednesday, 1 September.

Cypriot prez in town this week: President Nicos Anastasiades arrives in Cairo on Saturday, 4 September for a joint Egypt-Cyprus summit.

** Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

MARKET WATCH-

Powell drops strong hints of an end to stimulus measures this year: The Federal Reserve could start tapering its USD 120 bn per month bond-buying programme as early as this year, Fed head Jerome Powell signaled in his hotly anticipated keynote speech at the annual Jackson Hole symposium on Friday. Stopping short of giving a clear timetable for when the bank could begin to wind down the purchases, Powell said that the US economy has achieved “substantial further progress” toward average inflation of 2%, one of two goals it has said it needs to meet before it begins winding down the stimulus, and has made “clear progress” on its second target of maximum employment. A majority of Fed officials have been lobbying for an end to the bond-buying program by mid-2022, to give more flexibility to tackle increasingly aggressive inflation, even as unemployment remains high and the delta variant threatens to halt the recovery.

The markets were soothed by Powell’s dovish tone as he called for a cautious approach to tightening policy, stressing that inflationary pressures were likely temporary. Any potential rate hike would be subject to a “different and substantially more stringent test” than that set out for ending the stimulus, Powell added.

The S&P 500 hit a record high on the back of the speech, gaining 0.9%, as did the Nasdaq Composite, which rose 1.2%. The Dow Jones was also up 0.7%, leaving all three benchmarks up for the week. Yields on US ten-year treasury notes dropped only marginally after the speech, falling from 1.34% to 1.31%. The greenback fell, while gold rose. “Investors are breathing a sigh of relief as Powell suggests a kinder, gentler Fed tightening,” one analyst told Bloomberg.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES-

#1- You can pay for your stay at Samih Sawiris’ luxury Swiss hotel using crypto. Chedi Andermatt announced that it will start accepting BTC and ETH and will consider accepting other cryptocurrencies in the future, the hotel said in a statement picked up by Bloomberg. Sawiris opened the Chedi in 2013 as part of his redevelopment of the alpine town of Andermatt. Switzerland has become one of the biggest proponents of cryptocurrencies in Europe: Last year the Swiss town of Zug announced that it will start allowing citizens to pay their taxes in cryptocurrencies, while ski resort Zermatt accepts it as payment for some services.

#2- Solar panels produced a record-breaking 10% of the EU’s electricity during June and July this year, an increase from just over 6% three years ago, according to data from energy think-tank Ember picked up by the Financial Times. But solar panels still generated less energy than the EU’s coal plants, which were responsible for 14% of EU electricity this summer.

#3- The super-rich got 62% super-richer during the pandemic: New figures from progressive US think-tank the Institute for Policy Studies show that 708 US bn’aires have added USD 1.8 tn to their combined wealth in the 17 months since the start of the pandemic, all while over 86 mn Americans lost their jobs. The pandemic’s biggest ~~profiteer~~ beneficiary by a long shot was Elon Musk, whose net worth skyrocketed by more than 600% from under USD 25 bn to over USD 175 bn.

TOKYO 2020 PARALYMPICS-

Egypt’s powerlifters grabbed six medals at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics over the weekend. Fatma Omar claimed silver in the women’s 67kg, lifting 120kg, while Rehab Radwan came second in the women’s 50kg with a 120kg lift. In the men’s events, Mahmoud Attia lifted 191kg in the 72kg competition to come second and Sherif Osman narrowly missed out on a gold medal with a 187kg lift in the 59kg final, while Mohamed Sohbi clinched a bronze medal in the 80kg competition after lifting 212kg, and Hany Abdelhady also earned a bronze medal in the 88kg competition after lifting 214kg

An honourable mention: Despite losing his opening match 0-3 against South Korea, Egyptian table tennis player Ibrahim Hamadtou won plaudits in the global media over the weekend for his performance playing only with his mouth. Read more here, here, and here or catch some video here (watch, runtime: 0:33).

AS IT STANDS-

	Country	????	????	????	Total
1	China	34	24	27	85
2	Great Britain	20	15	16	51
3	RPC (Russia)	14	7	21	42
4	USA	12	9	4	25
5	Ukraine	10	17	9	36
41	Egypt	0	4	2	6

Dive into nature, where raw beauty reigns supreme. Wake up to breathtaking sunrises and enjoy a serene beach experience amongst family and friends at the Soma Coves beach. This is where you can fully immerse yourself into a picturesque vacation, any time of the year.

CABINET WATCH

Egypt in line to join Africa Finance Corporation, potentially unlocking fresh investment

Egypt is one step closer to becoming a member of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) after the cabinet approved plans to join the multilateral lender in its weekly meeting on Thursday. The Finance Ministry will represent Egypt at the corporation’s headquarters in Lagos. The AFC offers investment and other support to its 31 African member states in various sectors, most importantly energy, natural resources, transport, heavy industries, and communications. The lender has channeled more than USD 10 bn into projects in 35 countries since its founding, and while it hasn’t been that active in Egypt, that now looks set to change.

What can AFC membership do for us? Speaking with Enterprise in July, president and CEO Samaila Zubairu said that once Egypt’s membership is ratified, we can expect big-ticket investment that could see us receive over USD 1 bn — way beyond the AFC’s previous sub-USD 100 mn inflows to the country. It has already identified USD 400-500 mn worth of Egyptian projects in the private renewables, transport, logistics and natural gas sectors, and USD 250 mn to support public sector transport and logistics projects. Crucially, AFC capital can mobilize a project to secure up to 6x more in private funding, part of the AFC’s strategy of “derisking” projects to facilitate private sector involvement.

Next steps: The House of Representatives will hold a final vote on the decision when it comes back from summer recess. If passed, it will be shipped to President Abdel Fattah El Sisi for ratification. The House is due back in session no later than the first Thursday in October.

ALSO FROM THE CABINET MEETING-

ِِA gas-powered combined-cycle power plant in Luxor will be scrapped and replaced by a wind farm, the cabinet said. It approved a request from a consortium of Saudi Arabia utility developer ACWA Power, Hassan Allam Holding, and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) to exit a 2018 power purchase agreement (PPA) for the 2.3 GW, USD 2.3 bn power plant under the government’s buy, own, operate (BOO) scheme. The cabinet has approved signing a new PPA with the consortium, which will see it switch the gas-powered plant for a 1.1 GW wind farm, also under the BOO scheme.

An incentive program for charter flights to Egypt was also extended through the end of April 2022: An earlier phase of Egypt’s incentive program offered unspecified benefits over two tiers, one for airlines flying 2-15 times per week, and other for those operating more than 15 weekly flights, and ran from January to April 2021.

Cabinet also doubled down on a program meant to boost domestic tourism, including a plan to link the coastal airports of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada to Upper Egypt’s Luxor and Aswan. Current discounts on landing, docking, servicing and fuel prices at airports in the country’s tourist hotspots will also be extended until the end of April next year.

TAXATION

Taxman going after online retailers who aren’t playing ball

The Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) has asked prosecutors to open investigations into four companies with e-commerce activities for allegedly not registering with the authority, ETA head Reda Abdelkader said in a statement yesterday. An additional four companies that have not been reporting their revenues from online sales as part of their tax filings were also referred to prosecution, Abdelkader said. The statement did not name the companies that face probes, but said they included companies selling ready-made garments, imported clothing, bedding and tobacco products.

Cracking down on untaxed online sales: The tax authority has recently moved to oblige businesses selling goods online to disclose their tax registration numbers in the post advertising the product, as a way to crack down on tax evasion for online sales. This applies to ads on websites or social media platforms.

Online retailers should also pay heed to their VAT payments, the ETA boss said. Online retailers have been required since October 2018 to settle their VAT payments electronically with the government at the end of every month as other retailers do, as part of the state’s efforts to outline a framework for taxing e-commerce sales, including charging and remitting VAT on online delivery services as of 3 June, under an executive amendment to the VAT Act.

DEBT WATCH

MINING

DIPLOMACY

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood

El Sisi meets Qatari emir for first time since reconciliation: Improving bilateral relations and boosting cooperation between Egypt and Qatar were key talking points during a meeting yesterday between President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who met in Baghdad on Saturday for the first time since the Al Ula accord this year ended an almost four year Qatari diplomatic rift with Egypt and its Gulf neighbors, Ittihadiya said in a statement. The meeting took place during a summit that was ostensibly intended to rally support for Iraq.

The meeting is the latest signal of rapprochement between Egypt and Qatar after they re-established diplomatic ties in January following their severing in 2017 over Doha’s continued support for the Ikhwan. In 2014, Egypt, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, had recalled their ambassadors from Qatar in protest of the alleged interference by Qatar in other countries' internal affairs. In a sign of improved relations, Egypt and Qatar exchanged the appointment of ambassadors in June and August.

Egypt’s president also held a one-on-one with Iraqi President Barham Salih: El Sisi and Salih sat down to discuss ways to ramp up economic cooperation and investment between Egypt and Iraq, while reviewing the status of joint projects underway in cooperation with Jordan, according to an Ittihadiya statement. The three countries had agreed to deepen security and economic cooperation during a previous summit in Baghdad last June, and agreed to work together to establish new industrial complexes, as well as power and electricity projects. El Sisi also met with Iraqi PM Moustafa Al Kadhimi and stressed the importance of accelerating the implementation of joint projects between both countries.

El Sisi’s visit appears to be within the framework of Egypt’s continued push for infrastructure diplomacy, after Egypt and Iraq signed a raft of preliminary agreements covering everything from oil and water resources to construction, housing and transportation in an “oil-for-reconstruction” agreement. The latest display of this policy — through which the government aims to get local companies to help rebuild vital infrastructure in conflict-ridden regional countries such as Iraq — was an agreement signed in June to boost digital infrastructure cooperation with Iraq.

El Sisi also met with Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah to discuss regional issues and talked cooperation and investment with French President Emmanuel Macron. El Sisi and Macron singled out transport, renewable energy and auto manufacturing as areas of mutual interest.

Egypt and Qatar aren’t the only ones trying to get along: Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia and Iran, which had cut diplomatic ties in 2016, met for the first time, while officials from the UAE and Turkey — which have endured a bitter relationship in recent years — were also in attendance, Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported.

And more reconciliations further afield: The UAE and Qatari ruling families met for the first time after a three-year boycott, with Qatar’s Prince Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani receiving an Emirati delegation led by UAE’s National Security Adviser Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Thursday, according to WAM.

IN OTHER DIPLO NEWS- Egypt is calling on Algeria, Morocco to patch things up: Foregin Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed in phone calls with his Algerian and Moroccan counterparts Friday ways to mend diplomatic relations between the two countries, after Algiers announced last week that it would be cutting off diplomatic relations with Rabat, ostensibly over Morocco’s cozying-up to Israel, according to a foreign ministry a statement.

MOVES

ENTERPRISE+: LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

Diplomacy was the belle of the ball on last night’s talk shows, with everyone and their mother talking about and dissecting President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s visit yesterday to Baghdad to participate in an Iraqi summit. El Sisi used the occasion to talk talk bilateral relations with regional leaders and officials as well as with French President Emmanuel Macron. El Sisi also held his first one-on-one with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani since the lifting of Egypt and the GCC’s 2017 blockade on Qatar. We have coverage in this morning’s news well, above.

For your viewing pleasure: Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 11:03 | 1:47), Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 8:37 | 1:53) and Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 10:15 | 1:37) all had coverage.

Chinese electronics manufacturer Hisense’s plans to invest USD 170 mn in the Egyptian market was also on the agenda last night. Hisense has entered a partnership with Egypt’s El Araby Group to launch of an assembled-in-Egypt Hisense home appliance production line with El Araby. The agreement comes in line with Egypt’s push towards the localization of the electronics industry, and is expected to pave the way for further foreign direct investment into the country. Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 4:22) was among those who took note of the partnership.

Elsewhere, the nation’s talking heads were all over the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics after Egypt’s powerlifters snagged six medals at the weekend’s games, including four silver and two bronze. Sada El Balad’s Ahmed Moussa went with literal applause (watch, runtime: 2:19), while Al Hayah TV’s Lobna Assal lauded Fatma Omar’s victory in claiming silver in the women’s 67kg (watch, runtime: 7:10). We have the details in What We’re Tracking Today, above.

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EGYPT IN THE NEWS

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COVID WATCH

G20 Africa summit promises more vaccines to the continent

Vaccine production front and center at G20 Africa summit: Vaccinemaker BioNTech is planning to begin manufacturing mRNA malaria and TB vaccines in Rwanda and Senegal, the CEO of the company said during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Compact with Africa summit in Germany at the weekend, according to a joint statement.

Senegal is also on its way to becoming West Africa’s covid vaccine production hub, receiving mns of EUR from the EU to set up a new manufacturing facility. This is part of the EU’s EUR 1 bn initiative to boost the continent’s production capacity, with Egypt, South Africa, Rwanda and Morocco also being named as potential candidates.

Egypt might also become one of Africa’s key covid vaccine makers, reportedly being asked by the African Union to produce 1 bn shots every year for export across the continent. State-owned vaccine maker Vacsera is already manufacturing China’s Sinovac, and will soon increase capacity to 15-18.5 mn shots a month.

President El Sisi calls for action: Attending the summit virtually, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi stressed that African countries are still unable to access enough covid vaccines, and called on the international community to boost production capacity on the continent, Ittihadiya said in a statement.

Germany has already agreed to step up its donations to Africa from 30 mn to 70 mn vaccine doses by the end of the year, Chancellor Angela Merkel said, according to Reuters. Merkel did not specify a timeline or disclose how the shots would be divided, but said she was confident that there could be a “transfer, step by step, of the technology” to allow the production of jabs in Africa — where only 2% of the African 1.3 bn population have been inoculated against the virus.

A new Chinese vaccine showed 82% efficacy against serious covid-19 cases during late-stage trails, Bloomberg reports. Developer Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products said in a bourse filing that the jab was found to be 93% effective against the alpha covid-19 variant and about 78% effective against delta. None of the 28.5k people who took part in the trial entered critical care or died.

PLANET FINANCE

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The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) will extend trading by one hour till 3 pm starting 3 October, in a bid to align the ADX’s trading hours with global markets, attract international investment, and enhance market liquidity, according to a statement. The Dubai Financial Market is also extending its trading hours till 3 pm, while the ADX also announced it would be cutting trading commissions by half to 0.025% as of September, its second cut this year, and its third over the past three years.

China is planning to ban tech companies with large volumes of sensitive data from going public in the US, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sources cited by the newspaper say that some companies and foreign investors have been told by the country’s stock regulator in recent weeks that data intensive firms that use subsidiaries incorporated outside of China will not be allowed to IPO outside of China, though firms operating in other sectors will still likely receive approval. Beijing’s target: The Variable Interest Entity corporate structure, which the country’s largest tech firms use to dodge limits on foreign investment.

SEC looks to crack down on robo-advising apps: The US Securities and Exchange Commission issued on Friday a wide-ranging request for comment on the extent to which the digital cues and prompts used by online platforms such as Robinhood influence customers’ decisions, the Financial Times reports. The Wall Street regulator said it’s concerned that the technologies are putting investors at risk by encouraging excessive trading and pushing specific stocks. SEC’s “gamification” review is billed as a first step towards getting a handle on the increasing clout of retail investors in equity markets (think: “sending stonks to the moon,” à la GameStop).

EGX30	11,125	+0.6% (YTD: +2.6%)
USD (CBE)	Buy 15.65	Sell 15.75
USD at CIB	Buy 15.65	Sell 15.75
Interest rates CBE	8.25% deposit	9.25% lending
Tadawul	11,128	-0.3% (YTD: +28.1%)
ADX	7,625	-0.5% (YTD: +51.1%)
DFM	2,900	-0.1% (YTD: +16.4%)
S&P 500	4,509	+0.9% (YTD: +20.1%)
FTSE 100	7,148	+0.3% (YTD: +10.6%)
Brent crude	USD 72.70	+2.3%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 4.39	+4.2%
Gold	USD 1,819.50	+1.4%
BTC	USD 48,968.64	+0.16% (as of midnight)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.6% at Thursday’s close on turnover of EGP 2.29 bn (37.2% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net sellers. The index is up 2.6% YTD.

In the green: Mopco (+8.8%), Pioneers Holding (+5.4%) and Heliopolis Housing (+4.3%).

In the red: Egyptian Resorts Company (-4.4%), Fawry (-2.2%) and Ibnsina Pharma (-1.9%).

CALENDAR

24 August-5 September (Tuesday-Sunday): Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

September: Delegation of Russian companies to visit Russian Industrial Zone.

1-3 September (Wednesday-Friday): Digi Sign Africa, Cairo International Convention Centre, Cairo, Egypt.

3-5 September (Friday-Sunday): The World Karate Federation will hold the third competition of the 2021 Karate 1-Premier League in Cairo.

4 September (Saturday): The first Egypt-Cyprus Intergovernmental Summit is taking place in Cairo.

5 September (Sunday): The updated date for EGX listed companies to institute the new mechanism for calculating closing share prices. The deadline was previously 2 September.

5-7 September (Sunday-Tuesday): The Arab Security Conference, The Nile Ritz-Carlton, Cairo, Egypt.

7-8 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): Euromoney Conferences will host the GlobalCapital Sustainable and Responsible Capital Markets Forum 2021, featuring Vice Minister of Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk.

8-9 September (Wednesday-Thursday): Egypt-International Cooperation Forum (ICF), Cairo

7-9 September (Tuesday-Thursday): Egy Health Expo, Al Manara International Conference, Cairo, Egypt.

9 September (Thursday): DevOpsDays Cairo 2021 is being organized by ITIDA and the Software Engineering Competence Center in cooperation with DXC Technology, IBM Egypt and Orange Labs.

11-12 September (Saturday-Sunday): International Conferences on Economics and Social Sciences, Cairo

12 September (Sunday): International schools begin 2021-2022 academic year

12-15 September (Sunday-Wednesday): Sahara Expo: the 33rd International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East.

13-21 September (Monday-Tuesday): 76th session of the general assembly, New York

15 September (Wednesday): The CFO Leadership & Strategy Summit is taking place in Egypt.

16 September (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

18 September (Saturday): Expiration of United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL

21-22 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): The Federal Reserve meets to review interest rates.

22-25 September (Wednesday-Saturday): Cityscape Egypt, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 September-2 October (Thursday-Saturday): Egypt Projects 2021 expo, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 September-8 October (Thursday-Friday): The Cairo International Fair, Cairo International Conference Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 September: Closing of 2021’s first oil and gas tender in the Gulf of Suez, Western Desert, and the Mediterranean.

October: New legislative session begins — must be held by the first Thursday of October.

October: Romanian President Klaus Iohannis could visit Egypt in mid this month to discuss ways to boost tourism cooperation between the two countries.

1 October (Friday): Businesses importing goods at seaports will need to file shipping documents and cargo data digitally to the Advance Cargo Information (ACI) system.

1 October (Friday): Expo 2020 Dubai opens.

1 October (Friday): State-owned companies and government service bodies selling goods and services to customers that have not yet signed on to the e-invoicing platform will suffer a host of penalties, including removal from large taxpayer classification, losing access to government services and business, and losing subsidies.

6 October (Wednesday): Armed Forces Day.

7 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Armed Forces Day.

9 October (Saturday): Public schools begin 2021-2022 academic year

11-17 October (Monday-Sunday): IMF + World Bank Annual Meetings.

12-14 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Mediterranean Offshore Conference, Alexandria, Egypt.

18 October (Monday): Prophet’s Birthday.

21 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of the Prophet’s Birthday.

24-28 October (Sunday-Thursday) Cairo Water Week, Cairo, Egypt.

27-28 October (Wednesday-Thursday) Intelligent Cities Exhibition & Conference, Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski, Cairo, Egypt.

28 October (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

30 October – 4 November (Saturday-Thursday): The first edition of Race The Legends, Egypt.

November: The French-Egyptian Business Forum is set to take place in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

November: Egypt will host another round of talks to reach a potential Egyptian-Eurasian trade agreement, which can significantly contribute to increasing the volume of Egyptian exports to the Russia-led bloc that includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

1-3 November (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Energy exhibition on power and renewable energy, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

2-3 November (Tuesday-Wednesday): The Federal Reserve meets to review interest rates.

1-12 November (Monday-Friday): 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), Glasgow, United Kingdom.

16-17 November (Tuesday-Wednesday): Africa fintech summit, Cairo.

26 November-5 December (Friday-Sunday): The 43rd Cairo International Film Festival.

29 November-2 December (Monday-Thursday): Egypt Defense Expo.

7-8 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): North Africa Trade Finance Summit.

12-14 December (Sunday-Tuesday): Food Africa Cairo trade exhibition, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

13-17 December: United Nations Convention against Corruption, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

14-19 December (Tuesday-Sunday): The Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theater.

14-15 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): The Federal Reserve meets to review interest rates.

16 December (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

14-16 February 2022 (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Petroleum Show, Egypt International Exhibition Center, New Cairo, Egypt.

1H2022: The World Economic Forum annual meeting, location TBD.

22-24 April 2022: World Bank-IMF spring meeting, Washington D.C.

May 2022: Investment in Logistics Conference, Cairo, Egypt

16 June 2022 (Thursday): End of 2021-2022 academic year for public schools

27 June-3 July 2022 (Monday-Sunday): World University Squash Championships, New Giza.

**Note to readers: Some national holidays may appear twice above. Since 2020, Egypt has observed most mid-week holidays on Thursdays regardless of the day on which they fall and may also move those days to Sundays. We distinguish below between the actual holiday and its observance.