Willkommen — the Germans are coming: Siemens is looking at new opportunities in Egypt, CEO Joe Kaeser told Investment Minister Sahar Nasr and Suez Canal Economic Zone Chairman Mohab Mamish in Berlin, according to Al Masry Al Youm. Siemens is apparently looking at a training center in the SCZone and at rail and maritime transport projects there. Nasr held sit-downs with company officials from Mercedes-Benz, DEA, and Knauf.

Keep your eyes on Giesecke & Devrient and Plasser & Theurer. The CEOs of both companies met separately yesterday with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, according to a statement from Ittihadiya (pdf). The statement is short on details, but if the head of state is meeting one-on-one with CEOs who reassure him that they’re interested in opportunities in Egypt, that’s signal to “watch this space.” Giesecke & Devrient provides securities solutions and smartcard systems (covering everything from banknote paper to national IDs, passports and subsidy cards), while Austria’s Plasser & Theurer is a railway track maintenance specialist.

The President also met with the head of the German parliament’s majority bloc Volker Kauder (pdf) and Bishop Damian (pdf) of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Germany.