THIS EVENING: El Sisi extends invitations for int’l summit on Palestine

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to a new week. The news cycle continues to be fixed on the ongoing developments in our region.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

International summit on Palestine in Cairo? President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has extended invitations for a regional and international summit to discuss the situation in Palestine, an Ittihadiya statement said, without specifying who is being invited or when the summit could take place. The invitations come as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on his way to visit Egypt as part of his regional tour of the Middle East, after meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman earlier today. Blinken is also reportedly set to return to Israel tomorrow after his stop in Egypt today, Bloomberg reports.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

The Israel-Palestinian conflict continues to lead the conversation in the international press this afternoon. Israeli air attacks have killed Billal Al Kedra, a Hamas leader reportedly behind an attack on a kibbutz last Saturday, while the US has sent another aircraft carrier to the Eastern Mediterranean region as Israel prepares for its ground offensive on Gaza. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Hezbollah sent another missile over into an Israeli village on the Lebanese-Israeli border, resulting in one death and wounding three others. (Financial Times | Wall Street Journal | Reuters)

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

• What’s an extra USD 2 bn between friends? The Madbouly government is in talks with the IMF to raise its USD 3 bn loan program to more than USD 5 bn.
• The IMF expects our budget deficit to widen significantly during FY 2023-24.
• Egypt condemns Gaza displacement, demands aid entry to prevent humanitarian catastrophe: Israel’s order that some 1 mn Palestinians in Gaza leave their homes is a “grave violation” of international law.

*** It’s Inside Industry day —your weekly briefing of all things industrial in Egypt. Inside Industry focuses each Sunday on what it takes to turn Egypt into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, ranging from initial investment and planning to product distribution, through to land allocation to industrial processes, supply chain management, labor, automation and technology, inputs and exports, regulation and policy.

In today’s issue: Egypt’s elevator industry — which has typically supplied around 30% or less of the country’s total elevator demand — now needs to pick up production as imports of completely built elevators have become increasingly limited and expensive.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect the temperature to rise to a high of 29°C in the daytime and drop to a cooler 21°C in the evening, our favorite weather app tells us.