Gov’t puts several int’l disputes to bed: The state has settled disputes with international companies including Dutch Future Pipe and Italy’s Maire Tecnimont, as it looks to improve the investment environment and attract more foreign inflows, according to a cabinet statement. The government agreed to settle the following disputes:

#1- Future Pipe: The Dutch-incorporated, Dubai-based firm first filed an arbitration case against Egypt over a contract to build a water and sewage network in the new administrative capital back in 2017, according to records of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The settlement will help protect joint Dutch-Egyptian investments and maintain economic relations between the two countries, according to the cabinet statement.

#2- Maire Tecnimont: Cabinet rubber-stamped a settlement agreement between state-owned Egyptian Chemical Industries (Kima) and the Italian contractor, according to the statement. Kima was last year reported to be in talks with a syndicate of banks to help it restructure EGP 6.8 bn in outstanding debt, reportedly linked to its EGP 11.6 bn ammonia-urea plant Kima-2 in Aswan, which Tecnimont constructed. Kima was last year reported to have agreed to assign the operation and maintenance of Kima 2 to Tecnimont. The companies also reportedly signed a separate settlement in 2020 over losses incurred by Tecnimont on the project thanks to the devaluation. The settlement will help the government continue to expand our ammonia and urea production with the help of Italian expertise, the statement reads.

#3- Disputes related to the Hekr Abu Doma development in northern Cairo. The statement doesn’t give any further details. Local media had reported disputes related to the development between the government and both a Bahraini developer and Qatari Diar in recent years.

REMEMBER- Attracting more FDI is a key pillar of the government’s economic strategy as it looks to compensate for the loss of so-called ‘hot money’ on the back of the global economic downturn. The state will look to raise USD 40 bn over the next four years through the sale of public assets. Expect to hear more on the strategy at next week’s economic conference.