INVESTMENT WATCH- Attracting FDI into the automotive sector remains a challenge, El Sisi says: The government hasn’t been able to attract the foreign direct investment needed to spur growth in the automotive industry, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said during the Investment for Africa Forum, which wrapped up yesterday in the new capital, according to Masrawy. “We have been working for years and have not succeeded in convincing global companies to invest in automotive manufacturing [despite] saying we will make everything available,” El Sisi said.

House is yet to discuss customs incentives: El Sisi’s administration has recently been working on a package of customs incentives to spur domestic automotive manufacturing and assembly that were expected to be implemented last month through amendments to the Customs Act. The government opened talks with a number of foreign automotive companies — including India’s Tata and Japan’s Nissan — after announcing the incentives program.

Volkswagen Group is the latest company to express interest in local assembly: Executives earlier this month told Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly that the company is interested in manufacturing natural gas-powered vehicles and assembling Skodas in Egypt. Other brands from VW’s portfolio — which includes Audi, Seat, and Man Se — may follow suit, the delegation said.