Good morning to you all this fine morning. Today, all eyes are on a small Swiss town whose name has become synonymous with everything finance, business, and a fair few conspiracies for good measure — Davos. So you don’t have to, we’ve trawled through the agenda today to give you a rundown of what not to miss, which you can find below.

Looking a bit closer to home, we’ve got news of a newly created JV pledging to invest USD 100 mn into localizing our auto industry, Ezdehar acquisition of a minority stake in local healthtech startup Yodawy, and much, much more from Om El Donia.

ICYMI, there is now an EnterpriseAM for the UAE: Think of it as the UAE analogue to your morning read in Egypt — your essential report on business, finance, the economy, and regulation in one of the world’s most vibrant and exciting economies. You can sign up to have the newsletter delivered fresh to your inbox here.

EnterpriseAM UAE is produced in the United Arab Emirates and in Egypt by the same teamthat brings you EnterpriseAM and EnterprisePM in Egypt as well as our MENA industry reports, Enterprise Climate and Enterprise Logistics.

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HAPPENING TODAY-

Day 2 of Davos is shaping up to be all about the region: World leaders, heads of global banks, the world’s brightest economists, Gulf bn’aires, and Wall Street giants have all descended upon Switzerland for the first proper day of meetings for the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024. Upcoming speeches by Ukrainian President Zelensky and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are grabbing the attention of the global press, but there’s some important speeches by regional heavyweights we think you should also be paying attention to.

There’s a lot to look out for this morning: We’re expecting to hear today who will be representing us from Egypt, but plenty of other public and private players from the region are taking to the stage today. Starting off bright and early is the UAE’s AI Minister Omar Al Olama who will speak at a session on generative AI at 9:15am CLT. A bit later on, Qatari PM Mohamed bin Adu Jassem Al Thani will sit down with President of the World Economic Forum Børge Brende to talk about security and cooperation at 10:45am CLT.

And even more in the afternoon: Later on in the day, Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will take to the stage in a session entitled Securing and Insecure World at 2:00pm CLT, followed shortly by the country’s finance minister, Mohammed Al Jaadan, who will offer his thoughts on how to regulate non-banks at 4:00pm CLT.

The headline event for those in the region to look out for: Bahraini Finance Minister Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al Falih and Qatari Finance Minister Ali Al Kuwari will take to the stage alongside private sector players including Agility chairperson Hendai Al Saleh, CEO of the region’s largest privately owned oil gas company Crescent Petroleum CEO Majid Jafar, and others to speak at a session entitled Gulf Economies: All In at 4:00pm CLT.

That’s not all, folks: Later on in the evening, Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh will also take the microphone to speak on achieving security and cooperation in difficult times at 6:30pm CLT. While at the same time, Saudi Communications Minister Abdullah Al Swaha will take to the stage to ask whether AI is the great equalizer it was promised to be. Saudi Commerce Minister Majid Al Kasabi will also jumping on the stage at 6:30pm CLT to discuss regulations in the service sector.

** You can watch the live session here and check out the full program here.

ALSO WORTH NOTING FROM DAVOS- No-show for Turkey: Turkish officials will be skipping the WEF conference following orders from President Recep Erdogan to protest the forum over the organizers’ position on Israel’s war on Gaza, Bloomberg reports. The WEF hit back at the accusations by stating that they will be “providing a platform for key stakeholders from the region and beyond to share views on how to deescalate and find ways back to diplomacy,” in addition to hosting “over 50 leaders from the Arab world, including a Palestinian high-level representative.”

IN THE HOUSE TODAY-

El Moselhi is in the hot seat: MPs have a whopping 98 questions for Supply Minister Ali El Moselhi about the ministry’s strategy for clamping down on the hoarding of commodities and price gouging amid the state’s efforts to calm soaring prices. MPs will also pose questions on the Supply Ministry’s plan to preserve the country’s strategic reserves of basic commodities.

AND-The Industrial Committee is getting together today to discuss the struggling financials of the state-owned Egyptian Copper Works. Efforts to protect our aviation sector from cyber attacks will be reviewed by the Telecom Committee and the Budget Committee will meet to discuss the Tourism Ministry’s balance sheet for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Gov’t plans to double the capacity of Cairo International Airport: The new terminal that the government plans to add to the Cairo International Airport will accommodate an additional 30 mn passengers per year, according to a cabinet statement. The airport last year hosted 26 mn passengers and received 198k flights, according Aviation Ministry data cited by Ahram Online.

ICYMI:Cairo International Airport Company in August signed MoUs with infrastructure consulting firm Aecom and tech security company Pangiam to work on the construction of a fourth terminal and upgrading the airport’s digital systems, as well as a consultancy agreement with Singapore’s Changi Airport to upgrade the airport.

#2- eSIMs could land in Egypt by end of March: Local mobile operators are planning to launch eSIMs in 1Q 2024, with pre-launch trials currently underway, Asharq Business reported on X, citing unnamed sources.

eSIMs? Unlike their physical older brother we’ve been putting in our phones over the years, eSIMs are a digital version of a SIM card that can be put in your phone by scanning a QR code or putting in a code. The newest Apple, Samsung, and Google phones are already eSIM-compatible and many believe it is only a matter of time before physical SIM cards are tossed into the dustbin of history.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Republicans in Iowa have decided they’d like to see Donald Trump again seek the presidency under their banner.Caucus-goers are braving bone-chilling cold to meet in the first major contest of the 2024 election cycle.

Former US President Donald Trump has taken the caucuses, as expected. Both the Associated Press and CNN are projecting Trump will carry the state, meaning the fight is now down to whether former diplomat Nikki Haley or Florida Governor Ron Desantis will place second.

When will we know more? It depends, but near-final results should be in just after you open this email.

Where are the Democrats? They won’t be caucusing tonight after the party stripped Iowa of the right to run a caucus after counting issues in 2020. New Hampshire is running an unsanctioned primary next week and the first “formal” Democratic primary is South Carolina on 2 February.

Where can I get results? Check out live blogs from the New York Times and Wall StreetJournal or the live results counter from Politico.

MUST READ: Who’s moving on from Iowa and who’s dead in the water? A viewer’s guide to reading the returns in Politico.

OH, AND… The Emmys are running as we speak, four months late thanks to the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes. Liveblog here.

ON THE BUSINESS FRONT- No single story dominates as everyone looks to either Davos or Iowa. But near the top of the list: Instability in our corner of the world, as the world’s second-biggest LNG exporter skips the Suez Canal, the Houthis struck a US-flagged merchant vessel, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards attacked what they said are Israeli “espionage centers” in Iraq.

MORNING MUST READ-

The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their wealth since 2020 to USD 869 bn in November 2023, up from USD 405 bn in March 2020, according to a report by Oxfam. On the list are Tesla boss Elon Musk, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and investor Warren Buffett. The report also found that the richest 1% hold 43% of all global financial assets. Here in the Middle East, 1% of the population owns some 48% of all financial wealth.

DATA POINT-

Economic growth slowed to 2.65% y-o-y in 1Q FY 2023-2024, according to new databy thePlanning Ministry. That’s down from 4.4% y-o-y in the first quarter of FY 2022-2023 and 2.9% y-o-y in the final quarter.

BUT- Growth is expected to inch up: The Madbouly government sees the economy growing at a 3.0% clip in the current fiscal year, and the IMF, the World Bank — and S&P Global have penciled in more optimistic growth rates ranging between 3.5-3.7%.

*** It’s Going Green day — your weekly briefing of all things green in Egypt: Enterprise’s green economy vertical focuses each Tuesday on the business of renewable energy and sustainable practices in Egypt, everything from solar and wind energy through to water, waste management, sustainable building practices and how you can make your business greener, whatever the sector.

In today’s issue:We take a look at the government’s efforts to make Egypt’s petrochemicalsindustry greener.

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