The foreign press looks at GEM from the economic and political angles

All eyes on GEM: As expected, the grand inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum got a lot of coverage from the international press. In front of tens of world leaders, Egypt officially opened the doors of the USD 1 bn museum with a memorable ceremony that blended history with song and dance and captured the world’s attention. Here are some of the headlines worth noting:

Le Monde framed the opening as both an architectural and political statement — a project two decades in the making that cements Egypt’s cultural prestige while anchoring its economic recovery. The museum’s scale and timing, it wrote, underscore Egypt’s bid to project stability and reclaim its place on the global tourism map.

Bloomberg, meanwhile, took a wider view, portraying the event as part of Cairo’s broader geopolitical balancing act. The piece drew parallels between the towering statue of Ramses II at the museum’s entrance and Egypt’s modern-day diplomacy — a “friends-to-all” approach that lets it leverage ties with the US, China, Russia, and the Gulf amid shifting global power dynamics.

The story also got ink from: Guardian | Associated Press | Washington Post | AFP | FT | Reuters.