EXCLUSIVE- Cabinet agrees in principle on incentives for car manufacturers that use at least 45% local content: The cabinet has agreed in principle to a proposal from the finance and trade ministers on incentives for car manufacturers that use at least 45% local content, two government sources told Enterprise. Cabinet will finalize the incentives and could announce them as early as the end of this month, they said. Sources told Enterprise last week that there would be a sliding scale based on how much local content manufacturers use, starting at 10%.

A raft of agreements on the horizon? Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly will sign a number of cooperation agreements with car manufacturers Mercedes and BMW as well as component maker Bosch during an upcoming trip to Germany, one source said. One such trip begins this week, as we note this morning in What We’re Tracking Today (above).

Talks with four Japanese companies are also underway as are discussions with Korean, US and Chinese companies, the source added. Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan and Isuzu are all mulling options to become more deeply involved with the Egyptian market, the sources said, adding that the companies were “pleased to hear” about the proposed incentives.