Good morning, folks. We’re only two days away from meeting with some of you at the Enterprise Climate X Forum at the Grand Egyptian Museum on Tuesday, 6 December. We kick things off with a networking and standing breakfast at 8am CLT, followed by panel discussions and live interviews on:

• What are green hydrogen and NWFE? Why do they matter to businesses, banks and investors?
• How are CEOs across global emerging markets dealing with (and being constrained by) climate change?
• What’s keeping bankers awake at night when it comes to climate finance?
• Meet the startup and VC in line to be Egypt’s first climate b’naires.

You can read the full agenda here.

** Have you confirmed your attendance? We’ll be sending you later today the QR code you’ll need to gain admission to the Grand Egyptian Museum, along with a Google Maps link and some other pointers — including a reminder that the event takes place under Chatham House Rules. Only confirmed invitees who can present their personal QR codes will be able to gain admission to the GEM on event day.

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WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY-

Competition Act up for a vote in the House: The House of Representatives is set to discuss and vote on draft amendments to the 2005 Competition Act when it reconvenes today. The House Economic Affairs Committee last week held two closed-door meetings on the amendments, which were attended by Egyptian Competition Authority head Mahmoud Momtaz and Financial Regulatory Authority chief Mohamed Farid.

Shoukry in the House: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will deliver an address at the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the outcomes of last month’s COP27 summit in Sharm.

Wildcat building law lands in the House: The House Housing Committee will begin discussing legislation today aimed at making it easier for owners of illegal buildings to go legit. The discussions come days after the Senate gave the bill a final approval last week after three days of debate.

The Egyptian Mercantile Exchange (EMX) will hold its third session today at 2pm, the Supply Ministry said last week following its second trading day. The new commodities exchange hosted a second sale of Russian wheat from state grain supplier GASC Wednesday. Bidding on the 10k tons of grain was twice oversubscribed at an offer price of EGP 9.75k per ton, according to the statement. The EMX kicked off at the start of last week with an offer by GASC of 12k tons of Russian wheat that was also nearly twice oversubscribed.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

Key news triggers to keep an eye on this week:

• PMI: Data measuring activity in Egypt’s non-oil private sector will be released tomorrow, 5 December.
• Inflation: Inflation data for November will land on Thursday, 8 December.
• Foreign reserves figures for November should be out sometime this week.
• Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday, 22 December to review interest rates.

Food Africa 2022 kicks off at Egypt International Exhibitions Center tomorrow and runs until Wednesday. More than 440 exhibitors from 28 countries will be at the food expo.

The Knowledge Hub Universities and Nova University Lisbon’s newly inaugurated Cairo campus will host the QS Reimagine Education awards and conference this Tuesday and Wednesday, 6-7 December. The hybrid event will also take place online and at the Wharton School campus in Pennsylvania, and offers awards of up to USD 50k for innovative projects in higher education.

This week in the House:

• MONDAY- Western Desert exploration agreements: The General Assembly will discuss three oil exploration agreements in the Western Desert signed with Energean and Croatia-based INA; Kuwait Energy Egypt; and Egyptian National Petroleum For Exploration and Development Company (Enpedco).
• MONDAY- FRA boss to discuss fintech regs: Financial Regulatory Authority Chairman Mohamed Farid will appear before the House Economic Affairs Committee to discuss the legislative impact of amendments to the Fintech Act and the Capital Market Law.
• TUESDAY- Samir in the hot seat: Trade and Industry Minister Ahmed Samir will face questions from MPs on issues facing manufacturers, including on licensing and exports, as well as what the ministry is doing to solve the crisis in the automotive industry.

WORLD CUP-

It’s day 15 of the World Cup and the second day of the knockouts (all times CLT):

• Mbappe v Lewandowski: Group D winners France play Group C runners-up Poland at 5pm.
• The Three Lions v The Lions of Teranga: Group B winners England will take on Group A runners-up and Afcon champions Senegal at 9pm.

The Netherlands + Argentina are the first to book their places in the quarter-finals: Louis van Gaal’s Dutch team eased past the US in the first of the tournament’s round of 16 games, beating them 3-1 at the Khalifa International Stadium. Argentina won 2-1 against Australia, with Lionel Messi scoring in his 1k career appearance to beat late legend Diego Maradona’s tournament total. The two teams will meet each other in the quarter-finals on Friday, 9 December.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

It’s a mixed bag in the foreign press this morning: Reuters and Bloomberg are leading with Russia’s rejection of the G7’s newly-announced oil price cap (more on this below); the founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, is continuing to try and save his reputation with a new round of interviews with the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal; and the New York Times is focusing on Tuesday’s Senate run-off vote in Georgia.

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MARKET WATCH-

Western countries agree to cap the price of Russian crude starting tomorrow: G7 countries, the EU, and Australia finally agreed to cap prices of Russian oil at USD 60 per barrel, according to a UK government statement, after intense discussions that saw EU countries struggle to agree on an appropriate price. An EU and UK ban on the import of Russian seaborne crude will go into effect simultaneously. The cap seeks to limit Moscow’s oil export revenues as part of ongoing sanctions amid the war in Ukraine.

How it works: Shippers and ins. and maritime service providers from these countries cannot legally transport Russian crude and products sold for more than USD 60, with a mechanism in place to keep the price cap at least 5% below average market prices. Details should be published today in the EU’s legal journal, Reuters reports.

Russia says nyet: Russia “will not accept” the set price cap, Russian news agency Tass reported Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. “We are assessing the situation. Certain preparations for such a cap were made. We won’t accept the price cap and we will inform you how the work will be organized once the assessment is over,” Peskov said.

Russia has already kickstarted plan B: The Kremlin has assembled a “shadow fleet” of some 100 anonymous tankers to help circumvent the embargo and price cap, the Financial Times reports, citing shipping brokers and analysts.

MEANWHILE- How will OPEC+ respond today? The alliance of oil producers is unlikely to agree to further supply cuts at its meeting today, five OPEC+ sources told Reuters yesterday. Some analysts, meanwhile, aren’t convinced, telling CNBC that they expect the cartel to follow up last month’s shock move to tighten supply with further cuts.

*** It’s What’s Next day: We have our weekly deep-dive into what makes and shapes pre-listed companies and startups in Egypt, the UAE and KSA, touching on investment trends, future sector insights and growth journeys.

In today’s issue: It’s not quite a VC fund, and not quite a private equity firm, either: We break down what search funds are.