Good morning, wonderful people. It’s Wednesday, 25 September, and all of us here at EnterpriseAM are on something of a high: We wrapped another successful EnterpriseAM Finance Forum yesterday — and we turn 10 years old this morning, with issue #2344.

We lead the news well with our on-stage interview with Hassan El Khatib. In a remarkably candid discussion, the minister of investment and foreign trade touched on everything from how he aims to make it easier to do business to his thoughts on privatization, how he will choose priority industries, and the role of the state in the economy. We have abridged highlights below.

El Khatib hasn’t passed 100 days in office, and as a savvy investor, he’s in the do-his-homework (and due diligence) phase. The interview was a breath of fresh air for our community, and we’re looking forward to checking in with him again after day 100 to talk in concrete terms about what’s next.

THANK YOU, from the bottom of our hearts to all of our speakers, for submitting to on-stage interviews, and to the more than 550 senior members of our community who joined us in person as we played out what we think of as a “live issue” of EnterpriseAM.

And a huge thank you to all of our sponsors, whose generosity made it possible for us to welcome all of you to the forum. Their support — like those of our pillar advertisers — keep the A/C and lights on around here and help ensure that your morning read remains available to you every day without charge.

Oh, and the whole turning 10 thing? Fifty of you read us on day one a decade ago. We’re honored to now count hundreds of thousands of folks in Egypt and in capitals and major business centers around the world as readers. We’ll talk a bit more about the past decade (and about what’s next for EnterpriseAM) in a few issues’ time after we wrap up coverage of the EnterpriseAM Finance Forum.

AND- We’re extra chuffed this morning to see Dr. Youssef Boutros-Ghali back in a position to provide counsel to policymakers as he joins a key advisory body. It’s the first such formal role for Dr. Youssef since he left office in 2011. We have details on this too, in the news well, below.

PSA-

EgyptAir has canceled all its Beirut-bound flIghts until the “situation stabilizes,” the country’s flag carrier said in a statement. The move comes after Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed at least 569 people since Monday, some of which were directed towards the capital’s southern suburbs — where the city’s Rafic Hariri International Airport is also based.

WEATHER- It’s another pleasant day in Cairo today, with a high of 32°C and a low of 22°C, according to our favorite weather app.

As per usual, it’s a little cooler in Alexandria, with a high of 30°C and a low of 23°C.

** DID YOU KNOW that we now cover Saudi Arabia and the UAE?

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HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- Egyptian officials are in Uzbekistan for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) 2024 annual meeting due to kick off today and wrap up tomorrow. As always, we will be on the lookout for any investment and partnership news to come out of the meeting. You can check out the full meeting schedule here.

#2- ITIDA’sDevOpsDays Cairo 2024 conference is nearly upon us, with the one-day event set to begin this morning at the Nile Ritz-Carlton. The conference is set to delve into the latest trends and innovations in DevOps featuring a lineup of “world-class speakers from renowned organizations.”

#3- Attention, real estate players: The country’s largest real estate exhibition is set to launch today at the Egypt International Exhibitions Center. Cityscape Egypt will run for four days and host 80 developers, showcase 1k projects, and welcome over 40k attendees. Register for the event here.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

AUC’s first Political Economy of the Global South Conference kicks off this weekend under the title Global Governance in Crisis: Breakdown or Breakthrough?, the university said in a statement (pdf). The conference on 28-29 September will include talks from professors, experts, and researchers from across the global south, and will “explore the current challenges to global economic governance and the potential areas for institutional and policy changes.”

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-

Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon is still the top story in the international press — the business press included — with the barrage of attacks having killed at least 569 people, including 50 children, over the course of the last two days. While Israeli airstrikes targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs — claiming to have killed Hezbollah’s missiles division head Ibrahim Kobeissi — and the border region, Hezbollah targeted military targets, including a military and naval base, in northern Israel.

Speaking in New York on the sidelines of yesterday’s UN meetings, Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib called US President Joe Biden’s address to the UN “not strong” and “not promising,” adding that the US — Israel’s biggest arms supplier and key ally — “is the key…to our salvation.” The UN Security Council will meet today to discuss the escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah today.

WHILE IN OIL NEWS- No peak oil yet, says OPEC, with the oil cartel saying they expect world oil demand to increase 18% to 120.1 mn barrels per day by 2050, in stark contrast to other international organizations — including those within the petroleum industry — that expect to see oil demand fall as the world transitions to low carbon and green fuels.

AND- EU officials raided Nasdaq and Deutsche Borse offices in two EU member states yesterday, as the European Commission investigates possible anti-competitive practices related to financial derivatives, the FT reports. Both companies said that they were cooperating with EU authorities on the investigation.

ALSO- UniCredit’s battle to take over Commerzbank is heating up, with the German government throwing its weight against Italian UniCredit’s proposed takeover of German Commerzbank. German Chancellor Olaf Schulz said Monday that the government “supports Commerzbank’s strategy of independence,” adding that it does not support a takeover, which would cede financial clout to Italy and lead to a raft of job cuts in Germany.

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: Enterprise’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, and urban development, as well as social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: We take a look at the government’s plans to boost tourism in the Red Sea.