Potential investments coming from El Sisi’s US trip
The talking heads were channeling their inner Frank Sinatras last night, whistling “New York, New York” as President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s talks with US companies to spur investment dominated the airwaves.
US companies have appetite for Egypt: A number of US companies pledged new investment or expansion of operations during meetings with El Sisi, Investment Minister Sahar Nasr told Kol Youm’s Amr Adib in an interview. These included confectioner Mars, which will establish a new production line in its Egypt factory. Uber’s newly appointed CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, told El Sisi that the ride-hailing app will expand its services to cover all governorates in Egypt over the next three months, Nasr said. Apache, Boeing, and GE also said they are looking to do more in Egypt, according to the minister. Founder and CEO of data center developer NxtVN Khaled Sedrak told Adib that his company, which is currently based in Finland, will enter the Egyptian market soon (watch, runtime 18:26).
Nasr also revealed that the executive regulations for the Investment Act will be issued in two weeks’ time (watch, runtime 29:18).
Over on Masaa DMC, AmCham President Tarek Tawfik told host Eman El Hosary that El Sisi’s talks with investors focused on a potential FTA between Egypt and the US — something Trade Minister Tarek Kabil yesterday denied was in the cards (more on that in the Speed Round). Company reps also discussed potential investments in education, energy, infrastructure, logistics, and the automotive sector. Business leaders had apparently requested an encore of the 2015 EEDC, according to Tawfik (watch, runtime 5:53).
Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi delved into the issue of fraudulent real estate developers with Coldwell Banker’s Managing Director, Khaled Bahig, who advised buyers to choose where to purchase their homes based on the credibility of the developer. He noted that customers have the right to ask for all projects’ licenses and master plans to guard against scams (watch, runtime 3:53).
Lamees also zeroed in on the latest developments in Doha, where Qatari investors were shut out of Bahrain’s bond sale, leading the Qatari stock market to a five-year low during yesterday’s session (watch, runtime 5:04). Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah’s Editor-in-Chief Ahmed Al-Jarallah told Lamees that the Qatari regime is “under siege” and will soon be likened to the Qaddafi regime for its links to terrorism (watch, runtime 10:12).
Meanwhile on Yahduth fi Masr, Supreme Media Council President Makram Mohamed Ahmed told Sherif Amer that two Al Azhar University professors were barred from making television appearances due to their controversial fatwas (too disgusting to even bring up here), and are now under investigation.