Good afternoon, wonderful people. We have another day here in Omm El Donia dominated almost entirely by the Madbouly government’s economic conference, which is currently in its second and penultimate day.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Industrial development strategy to launch within three months? The Madbouly government wants to work with the private sector to establish an industrial development strategy within three months, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said during today’s session on the state ownership policy document at the government’s economic conference. The strategy would cover the next decade, he said, without disclosing further details.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Picking up where we left off this morning, former UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s lead in the race to become the UK’s next prime minister is still leading the conversation in the international business press. Sunak’s lead is doing good things for markets, with the GBP rising earlier today and government bonds also staging a rally. The story is on the front pages of the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and CNBC.

HAPPENING NOW-

The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) launched its promotional campaigns to drum up investment in the zone this morning ahead of COP27, according to a cabinet statement. The campaigns are designed to highlight how the zone differs from other economic zones, as well as its efforts to localize the green energy industry, the statement says. The domestic campaign’s slogan is “An Integrated Path — One Destination” while the international campaign’s slogan is “Green Energy Destination.”

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• Policymakers set the table on the first day of the state’s economic conference: Policymakers — including President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, Planning Minister Hala El Said, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, and CBE Governor Hassan Abdalla — ran us through a brief history of our economy as they laid the groundwork to talk solutions.
• Hassan Allam eyes renewables, desalination projects in Morocco: Our friends at Hassan Allam Holding are mulling investing in renewable energy and desalination projects in Morocco, and could deploy an initial USD 50-150 mn within the next year.
• Two local startups — one in real estate, the other in B2B services — announced six-figure funding rounds: Real estate startup Seqoon has secured USD 500k in a pre-seed round led by Banque Misr through the lender’s fintech-focused pilot program, while Egypt-based B2B services marketplace Unlock closed an undisclosed USD six-figure investment in its first funding round,

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Egypt is playing host to the annual Gas Exporting Countries Forum meetings: Ministers from the 19 member countries as well as eight observer nations are in Cairo until tomorrow for the annual meetings of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.

Why this matters: Egypt has been positioning itself for some years now as the premier energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean, serving as a hub for natural gas and electricity exports to Europe, the Levant, GCC, Sudan and North Africa. Throw in the energy war between Russia and Europe and things look very interesting right now.

PSA- The LRT has extended its hours: The new light rail transit system (LRT) has extended its operating hours to 7:30am – 9pm, operator RATP Dev said yesterday.

Egypt and the UAE will host a gathering marking 50 years of bilateral ties: The conference takes place Wednesday-Friday (26-28 October) and is being produced in association with the two governments. Day one is an economic forum featuring ministers, senior officials and business leaders from the two countries, while the following day will feature a cultural forum.

Davos in the Desert is this week: Saudi Arabia tomorrow kicks off this year’s edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII). The kingdom’s annual conference seeks to drum up foreign direct investment for its Vision 2030 plan, which hopes to future-proof the oil-dependent economy by investing in new sectors including tourism and tech. The event will run from Tuesday through Thursday this week.

⛈ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- You might need to bust out your umbrellas tomorrow, as our favorite weather app tells us to expect some thunderstorms, with a 72% chance of rain in the capital city. The daytime high will be 28°C and the nighttime low will be 19°C.