The EFG Hermes One on One Conference kicks off today in Dubai with 510 investors from 260 financial institutions holding USD 10 tn in assets under management. 147 listed companies from Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia will be represented at the conference. Attendees will also vote live on the EFG Hermes Consensus, a live poll of investor sentiment toward emerging and frontier markets as part of the conference, which takes place between 6 to 8 March. The opening session will have keynote speakers including Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr and Emaar Properties Chairman Mohamed Alabbar. The event’s agenda can be found here.

What did Merkel really say about the automotive directive? The folks in the local press over-played German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s remarks this past weekend about the automotive directive, a package of measures designed to give incentives to local automotive assemblers to go further up the value chain into manufacturing. A very senior industry insider present for Merkel’s remarks tells us, "What the Chancellor said was that she expected that any measures taken would be fully compliant with Egypt’s obligations under existing EU-Egypt trade agreements. That was it — just a few words." The incentives package would see the introduction of a new tax on automobiles from all countries of origin, says the insider, who has knowledge of the text now before the House of Representatives’ Industry Committee. As such, it would not contravene any existing trade agreement.

Expect to hear plenty of chatter this week on the Investment Act. Today, central bank Governor Tarek Amer and representatives from the Finance Ministry are expected to speak before the House Economic Committee on the bill’s investment incentives, private free trade zones, and profit repatriation for foreign companies. Later in the week, the committee plans to hold hearings with business associations on the Investment Act, before concluding their talks on the bill next week. Committee member Mohamed Badrawy tells Al Borsa that the committee plans to push for expanding the role of the General Authority for Free Zones and Investment to tender land — in effect, beefing up the failed one-stop-shop policy. We have yet to hear how this poorly implemented (and much derided) feature of the old act does not conflict existing legislation empowering other government bodies to privatize land under their purview.

Following the EFG Hermes conference, Minister Sahar Nasr is expected to sit down with the Egyptian Capital Markets Association (ECMA) and other associations this Thursday to discuss bill. The meeting will also look into the IPOs of state-owned companies, including Banque du Caire, and amendments to the Capital Markets Law, Al Mal reports.

You might want to recheck your travel plans to Amreeka: US President Donald Trump could be signing a new executive order for a travel ban to the US for citizens of certain countries today, Politico reports. The report, which cites “senior government officials familiar with the matter” does not make it clear “how significant the changes to the current order will be or whether the White House will continue a court fight over its old order.”