Good morning, dear readers: You know what time it is…

The Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum istaking place today at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza. The event will see CEOs, top execs, bankers, and development finance folks attempt to solve the biggest economic issue of our time: How do we get out of our FX crunch by boosting exports and raising foreign direct investment.

We are very grateful for the interest we’ve seen from many of you and we cannot wait to meet those attending.

The event kicks off with an 8am networking breakfast, with the opening panels starting at 9am.

Topics and live interviews will also include:

  • Why exports and FDI are the way forward and what lessons have worked from around the world;
  • How to attract foreign partners and figure out what they are looking for;
  • What lessons can we draw from food, fertilizers, and garments exporters who have increased our exports;
  • What are the fundamentals to creating an export and / or FDI strategy;
  • How industrial clusters could expedite exports and FDI and is a possibly avenue for SME development;
  • How Egypt’s industries need to be open to evolution to become more competitive.

Tap or click here to explore the full agenda.

** Attendees who have confirmed and RSVP'd to their personal invitations do not need a QR code to enter the venue, but please do bring a business card you can give us in exchange for your name tag and lanyard.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Egypt’s first gold fund launches today: Investors will be able to start buying into Azimut and Evolve Holding’snew gold investment fund from today, Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) head Mohamed Farid said in an interview last night (watch, runtime: 1:07). The two asset managers, together with the FRA and the EGX, yesterday held a press conference to mark the launch of the fund, which is the first of its kind in Egypt.

The details: The fund will invest only in 24-carat gold bars and carries no minimum or maximum investment amount. Investment certificates worth as little as EGP 10 will be sold at Egypt Post branches. The imposes no minimum or maximum investments and allows subscribers to fully or partially redeem their certificates — either in cash or a minimum of 50 grams of gold. The fund was greenlit by the FRA earlier this month.

Gold prices make their debut on the EGX trading screens: The EGX yesterday started sharing spot prices for 24-carat gold on its trading screens, EGX boss Ramy El Dokany said.

The bourse will not set the prices itself, but just display the prices presented by Evolve Investment Holding’s Gold Net Trading, a precious metals trading platform.

The launch comes at a time of huge volatility in the gold market: Policymakers in recent weeks have started looking to put a ceiling over gold prices, which have soared to record highs amid the economic crisis. The price of 21-carat gold has fallen around 10% this month and was trading at EGP 2,380 yesterday.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

G7 meeting this week: Expect the war in Ukraine and China containment to be top of the agenda when G7 leaders meet in Hiroshima, Japan on 19-21 May.

Finance ministers aren’t exactly full of optimism ahead of the gathering: G7 finance ministers have called on governments to plug holes in global banking regulations amid “heightened uncertainty” triggered by the recent banking crisis and the global macro outlook, they said following their three-day ministerial ahead of this week’s summit. The FT has more.

ON THE HORIZON-

Egyptian-Saudi business forum in June: An Egyptian-Saudi business forum will take place in Cairo next month to promote investment opportunities between the two sides, the head of the Saudi-Egyptian Business Council’s Real Estate Committee, Fathallah Fawzy, told Al Shorouk.

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

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s a close-run thing in Turkey where yesterday’s presidential election is looking like it’ll go to a second vote. With almost all of the votes counted, neither incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdogan or his main opponent, social democrat Kemal Kilicdaroglu, had won more than 50% of the vote — the threshold needed to claim victory and avoid a run-off.

The state of play before we sent out the newsletter this morning: Erdogan had won 49.3% of the vote and Kilicdaroglu 45.0% with more than 98% of ballots counted, according to Turkish broadcaster TRT.

(Associated Press | Reuters | Bloomberg | Financial Times | NYT | Washington Post | Wall Street Journal)

THE REALIGNMENT-

Iran’s foreign ministry wants better ties with Egypt:Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has expressed hope to resume full diplomatic relations with Egypt in an interview with Iranian media. “We have always welcomed the development of relations between Tehran and Cairo,” he said, voicing optimism that Tehran’s recent push to deepen ties with the Arab world would improve relations with Egypt.

A El Sisi-Raisi meeting in the cards? That’s according to one Iranian MP, who told Iranian media that there are preparations for the leaders to meet should the two countries reopen embassies. Fadahossein Maleki, who heads the parliament’s national security committee, told Tasnim News Agency that Iran and Egypt will restore diplomatic ties and reopen embassies in the near future. This comes a few days after a media report claimed that officials from both countries have been discussing normalizing ties since March. The Jerusalem Post also has the story.

This comes amid a wave of reconciliation in the region, which has seen Saudi Arabia and Iran sign an agreement to restore ties, and the Arab League welcome Syria, an ally of Tehran, back into the organization.

ICYMI-

Missed this week’s Inside Industry? In our weekly vertical exploring all things industry and manufacturing, we looked at the government’s fiscal plans for industrial development in the coming fiscal year.

COME WORK FOR OUR ADVISORY ARM-Enterprise Advisory (formerly known as Inktank Communications) is looking for smart, talented people to help us tell the stories of exciting companies. Enterprise Advisory is the region’s leading investor relations advisory company and works on investor and strategic communications issues that take you deep inside the c-suite. Our clients are in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and beyond. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply.

We’re running a four-month training program for fresh grads and career switchers and will hire every successful grad of the program.

Apply directly to jobs@enterprisemea.com and mention “advisory development program” in your subject line.

*** It’s Blackboard day: We have our weekly look at the business of education in Egypt, from pre-K through the highest reaches of higher ed.

In today’s issue: We look at the government’s fiscal plans for education in the coming fiscal year.

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