INVESTMENT-

InvestHK to set up North Africa HQ in Egypt:InvestHK, the Hong Kong government’s company responsible for FDI, has launched a tender to select the company that will host its North Africa headquarters in Cairo, according to a statement.

TELECOMS-

Asia-Middle East subsea cable in the works: State-run Telecom Egypt has signed an MoU with e&, Indonesia’s Telin, and an undisclosed Indian telecom company to form a consortium to build an 11k km open and subsea cable connecting Indonesia and Singapore to India, Oman, Egypt, and the UAE, a joint statement (pdf) read. The project — dubbed ICE IV — is scheduled to go live in 4Q 2027.

Telecom loves subsea cables: Telecom Egypt formed a joint venture earlier this week with Hungarian telecom company 4iG to build a subsea cable between Albania and Egypt and signed an agreement with Jordanian telecom service provider NaiTel last month to build a subsea cable linking the two countries.

DESALINATION-

Desalination tender deadline pushed:Six desalination plants will be offered up to the private sector in June, after being pushed back from March, Al Arabiya reports, citing an unnamed government source. The state hopes to sign the final contracts by before the end of the year. The six plants would be the first phase of the government’s plan to tender 21 plants in total.

ICYMI: The tender for the first batch of plants, which a Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) spokesperson told us in May was set to kick off in 3Q 2023, was waiting on the land allocation process to be completed and revisions for financials in light of exchange rate fluctuations.

RETAIL-

Othaim wants to expand in Egypt: Saudi supermarket chain Othaim wants to open up 5-6 new branches across Egypt in 2024 from the 50 branches it currently operates in the country, CEO Muaffaq Mubarah told Al Arabiya in an interview.

AVIATION-

Budget flights to Istanbul: Low cost carrier Air Arabia will launch three weekly flights between Cairo and Istanbul starting 2 April, according to a statement yesterday.

COURTS-

Three media workers freed: Authorities released two journalists and a TV presenter detained for “spreading false news,” according to two Facebook posts (here and here) by human rights activist Hossam Bahgat. They were three of 60 pretrial detainees released yesterday.

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