Good morning, wonderful people. It’s a light news morning as we reach the final hump day of January.

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THE BIG STORY AT HOME-

Shin Bet head was in town: The head of Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet Ronen Bar was reportedly in Cairo yesterday, where he met with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, Israeli sources told Axios.

The two were just together in Paris, where they held “constructive” talks with Qatari Prime Minister Mohamed Bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, CIA head William Burns, and Israel’s Mossad head David Barnea. The talks likely centered around the proposed Hamas-Israel agreement that would see Israel halt all fighting in Gaza for about two months in exchange for Hamas releasing over 100 Israeli hostages.

Things are tense between the two sides after Israel reportedly informed Egyptian officials of its plans to send troops to Rafah and Philadelphi Corridor, which Egypt stood in firm opposition to.

DATA POINTS-

#1- The expat car-for-FX initiative is expected to clock in orders totaling USD 2 bn from its first two phases, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said in a statement yesterday.

#2- Egypt’s LNG exports fell 51.8% y-o-y in 2023, dropping to 3.52 mn tons, according to a report (pdf) from the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

Italy pledges Africa investments: Italy plans to invest EUR 5.5 bn across various African countries in a bid to boost ties with African nations, Bloomberg wrote, citing statements made by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The investment aims to curb illegal immigration by providing people with “opportunities, work, training and legal migration” and will target a variety of sectors — energy, education, health, agriculture, and water. Meloni’s statements came during the Italy-Africa summit in Rome yesterday, which was attended by International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat.

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- The Fed gets down to business: The Federal Reserve is kicking off its two-day policy meeting today. Economists are forecasting that the Fed will leave rates at their current 22-year high of 5.25-5.5%.

#2- The IMF’s World Economic Outlook: The IMF will be out with its January 2024 WorldEconomic Outlook update today at 3:00pm CLT.

#3- STEM education under the spotlight: The second and final day of the Education Ministry’s Egyptian Education System STEM conference kicks off today in Conrad Cairo hotel in cooperation with USAID. The conference will look at the future of STEM education in Egypt and ways to develop it. It comes as part of Egypt’s program to expand the availability of STEM schools — which focus on the scientific, mathematical, and tech fields and target high-potential students.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

The CBE decides our interest rate path: The Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee will hold its first meeting of the year on Thursdayto decide whether to hike or leave interest rates unchanged.

What the experts say: Analysts surveyed in an Enterprise poll were split, with four of the nine analysts forecasting that rates would remain unchanged, while others think that we could see hikes between 150-200 bps.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

#1- Round two of Visa’s fintech accelerator kicks off: Visa is accepting applications for the second cohort of its training and mentorship program Africa Fintech Accelerator, which builds on its pledge to invest USD 1 bn in Africa by 2027 to support digital transformation, a statement (pdf) from Visa said. The program will select seed to series A startups operating in Africa to receive one-one mentorship, in addition to getting access to a large network of potential partners and investors. Applications will be open until 29 February.

PLUS- First demo day will take place next month: Visa will host the program’s first demonstration day on 13 February in the Kenyan capital, during which the first cohort of 23 startups will pitch to investors.

#2- Vodafone to host tech summit in Sharm El Sheikh: Vodafone will host a two-day conference under the headline “The Future of Business, Digital Transformation Now & in the Future” at Rixos Sharm El Sheikh. The event will bring together tech industry leaders from various sectors — manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, oil and gas, hospitality and retail — and government entities to discuss the impact of digital transformation on the way business is done and companies are run. The event kicks off tomorrow and wraps up on Thursday.

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-

It’s a quiet morning abroad, with no single story capturing the collective imagination of the global business press.

Every major outlet is watching how Washington will respond to a drone attack on a US base in Jordan that killed three. The consensus is that the White House is looking for something that’s tough enough to send a message, but not so tough as to ratchet tensions even higher. Officials in Washington have been careful to stree they don’t want war with Iran.

Tehran is trying to put distance between itself and the attack, which reports say was carried out by one of the many armed groups it backs.

Want to go deeper? Politico | Financial Times | New York Times | Reuters

Three business stories worth knowing about this morning:

• Energy: A London hedge fund is trying to force BP to back away from its clean energy pledges. (Financial Times)
• IPO watch: Renault has canceled the IPO of Ampere, its EV business, thanks to what it said were poor market conditions. (Reuters)
• In the bulge bracket: Jim Esposito, a top Goldman Sachs banker who has led its IB and markets group and aspired to be CEO, is leaving the bank after a more than 30-year run. You can read his note to staff on his departure here. (Wall Street Journal)

AND IN TECH NEWS- Big AI developers are now required to share safety test results with the US government, as the Biden administration seeks to try to regulate and monitor the rapidly evolving technology. (Associated Press)

SIGN OF THE TIMES- Consulting and assurance outfit EY really, really wants its people back in the office and is now using data from staff IDs used to swipe into work to track attendance.

Need a two-minute break? Go watch this cringe-inducing get-back-to-the-office NOW video from WebMD. Doesn’t matter whether you’re Team Office or Team WFH, there’s enough here to make you wince.

*** 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 dive into Egypt’s water scarcity problem and the steps the government is taking to tackle it.