On the horizon
A delegation from Russia’s Rosatom Overseas is expected in Egypt after Eid to organize a “corporate-community dialogue” in Dabaa, where the company will begin building a USD 30 bn nuclear power plant in 2020, a source at the Nuclear Power Plants Authority tells Al Shorouk. The dialogue aims to clear up any misunderstandings about the project and its impact on the surrounding environment. The delegation will also look into the possibility of upgrading the experimental nuclear reactor in Inshas in Sharqiya, as we noted before.
Who will manage the Grand Egyptian Museum? Egypt will announce on Sunday the details of the prequalification stage of a tender to manage the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), according to the Investment Ministry (pdf). Antiquities Minister Khaled Anany said a couple of months back that the ministry expects to drum up significant interest. The USD 1 bn museum is set to be completed in December this year, but will hold a soft opening to visitors in the next few months.
Museum gets love from CNN: The GEM will be “the world’s largest museum devoted to a single civilization” and is set to house tens of thousands of artifacts that have undergone restoration “by an army of conservationists and archaeologists, a long overdue operation for a country with thousands of years of civilization to preserve,” Ian Lee writes for CNN. Check out our special tour of the under-construction museum from a few months back.
Saudi Arabia could be upgraded to MSCI emerging markets status this month.
The central bank’s monetary policy committee will meet on 28 June to review interest rates. With the meeting happening just days before the start of a new state fiscal year (and the subsidy cuts it will surely bring), conventional wisdom so far sees the committee leaving interest rates on hold.
Do you have an idea for a tech-enabled business that could make agriculture in Egypt more efficient? The World Bank may have seed funding, access to mentorship, and an accelerator / incubator program for you through its “DigitalAG4Egypt” program. The deadline for submissions is 1 July. Tap or click here for more information.
Unified port fees will permanently come into effect in July, SCZone chief Mohab Mamish said yesterday, Youm7 reports. While the final details of the new fees are yet to be made public, they’re based on a trial run that began last year in a bid to eliminate competition between the country’s different ports. Mamish had agreed on the measure with Transport Minister Hisham Arafat following a series of exits by major shipping firms who complained about Egypt’s high port fees. Egypt has been offering discounts and other incentives to attract more traffic to its ports.