Good morning, friends, and welcome to an extra-busy news day, feature stories on everything from M&A in Egypt (up a lot over 2020) and FX reserves (up a bit) to the prospect of a capital gains tax on EGX transactions in early 2022 (not likely?) and the government’s back-to-school vaccination drive. We have chapter and verse on all of this — and more — in this morning’s Speed Round, below.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY-

The first week of fall conference season continues in earnest:

The GlobalCapital Sustainable and Responsible Capital Markets Forum 2021 kicks off today and features Vice Minister of Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk. The conference will run until tomorrow.

The three-day Egy Health Expo starts today at the Al Manara International Conference Center.

It’s day three of the Arab Labor Conference, which is running through to 12 September at the InterContinental CityStars Hotel in Heliopolis. Government officials, ambassadors, trade union reps and business owners’ association delegates from 21 Arab countries are participating in the gathering.

It’s the final day of the Arab Security Conference, which is taking place at the Nile Ritz-Carlton in Downtown Cairo.

Second time’s the charm? A second round of talks between Egypt and Turkey kicks off in Ankara today, after a previous meeting between the two countries in May ended without a breakthrough. The two-day talks between Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdy Loza and Turkish officials announced by our foreign ministry last week come amid a thaw in tensions between Turkey and the UAE, and attempts by Ankara to mend relations with another of its long-standing regional rivals, Saudi Arabia.

Also happening internationally today-

Canada’s borders reopen today to vaccinated travelers and visa holders who have been fully jabbed with Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca. Under the new rules that went into effect just as we were hitting “send” on this morning’s edition, all travelers are welcome provided they are fully vaccinated and took a negative PCR test no more than 72 hours before their flight took off. None will face quarantine. You can read the rules yourself on Canada’s website here or check out coverage by CBC.

SMART POLICY- Booster shots for already-vaccinated travelers could be in the cards by year’s end, Health Minister Hala Zayed said yesterday. That’s great news for people with, say, two doses of Sinopharm in their arm who want to travel to, say, Canada without quarantine. We have more on the story in Last Night’s Talk Shows, below.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has landed in Qatar for crisis talks over Afghanistan: Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will hold talks with senior Qatari officials, in the most high-level US visit to the region since the Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan last month. Doha hosts the Islamist group’s only political office outside of Afghanistan, and played a key role facilitating peace talks that led to the US agreeing to withdraw from the country. Blinken is not expected to meet Taliban officials during the visit.

*** IN CASE YOU MISSED IT-

• Capmas to conduct a survey on family health in Egypt: The survey will focus on the health of mothers and children, and fertility and family planning, which will be used to inform the government’s health policies.
• Three startups have been awarded EGP 150k each in the Agri-Digital Startup Competition: farm monitoring solutions provider ReNile, agricultural community platform Croposa, and e-commerce platform Cotton Town.
• It’s ‘80s week On The Tube Tonight: We decided to start with none other than Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket — one of the greatest ever cinematic depictions of the Vietnam War.

CORRECTION- We had reported an incorrect (and overly ambitious) statement in yesterday’s Enterprise PM that Egypt had attracted the second largest number of inbound M&A transactions globally during 1H2021. Egypt attracted the second largest number of inbound M&A transactions from the Middle East in 1H2021, according to a Baker McKenzie report (pdf). We have the full story in this morning’s Speed Round, below.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Key news triggers remaining in the first two weeks of September:

• Inflation: Inflation data for August will drop at the end of this week.
• Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt will meet to review interest rates on Thursday, 16 September.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

*** It’s Going Green day — your weekly briefing of all things green in Egypt: Enterprise’s green economy vertical focuses each Tuesday on the business of renewable energy and sustainable practices in Egypt, everything from solar and wind energy through to water, waste management, sustainable building practices and how you can make your business greener, whatever the sector.

In today’s issue: Since 2016, Egypt has seen a substantial uptick in renewable energy investment. Still, covid-19 and an electricity supply glut have slowed our renewables transition down. Today, we look at how risky Egypt’s public and private sectors consider investment in renewables. There’s good news from an April report by RES4Africa and PwC, which finds that overall investor confidence in Egypt’s renewable energy sector has improved markedly in the last five years. Still, for the private sector in particular, regulatory and policy issues, worries about dispute resolution and tax remain notable areas of concern.