Smurf Island debate kicks off in the House of Representatives: The House was the scene yesterday of a “raucous” debate of the agreement to hand over Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi, the Associated Press says. The government’s report to the House on the matter says that Egypt will maintain administrative control over the two islands even if their transfer to Saudi Arabia is approved, Reuters say. But MPs remain divided over the agreement. Some, such as the 25/30 coalition, are debating whether or not it should be discussed by the House at all since it was already struck down by the Administrative Court. Others have threatened to resign in protest, according to Al Shorouk. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Omar Marwan, however, defended MPs right to deliberate on the agreement, arguing that other courts (albeit lower in the judicial hierarchy) had overturned the Administrative Court’s verdict. Discussions will continue today and for the rest of the week, with government officials expected to make appearances and testimonies.
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Trade and Industry Ministry forms committee to break deadlock over automotivedirective: The Trade and Industry Ministry is forming a committee of Federation of Egyptian Industries and Industrial Development Authority (IDA) officials to look into resolving the deadlock on the automotive directive, Al Borsa reported last Thursday. The move is the latest in an attempt to push for progress on the bill — which offers incentives to encourage local assemblers to move further up the value chain into manufacturing — and has been lingering in the House of Representatives’ Industry Committee due to opposition from car importers.
Are importers willing to hammer out a compromise? Importers and the bill’s detractors, including Bavaria Auto Group and Fiat Chrysler, have been lobbying for amendments to the legislation that would reduce the minimum requirement for local content a vehicle would have to include as a condition of benefiting from incentives under the law, said Samir Allam, head of the FEI’s transportation division. This could be their opening position in the talks set to take place to reach a compromise. The ministry had said last month that it would revisit unspecified sections of the legislation to ensure that none of its clauses violate any of Egypt’s trade liberalization agreements with the European Union.
The central bank had earlier backed into forming its own task force to study alternatives to the legislation and was expected to submit its report sometime in the beginning of June. The CBE’s authority to look into the issue remains an open question.
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The Saudi Fund for Development disbursed last week a USD 400 mn tranche of its USD 1.5 bn loan for the development of Sinai, Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr said, according to remarks carried by Al Mal. The loan is set to fund King Salman University, King Salman Bridge, upgrades to the Kasr El Aini hospital, housing projects and roads, among others. Egypt had received USD 500 mn of the facility as of last August. Talks reopened in April after a court ruling to reject the handover of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia stalled progress January.
World Bank, African Development Bank in town for talks on USD 1.5 bn in funding: Separately, a World Bank delegation will arrive in Cairo this week to discuss the disbursement of a third USD 1 bn tranche of the bank’s USD 3 bn development loan, Minister Nasr said, according to Ahram Gate. An African Development Bank delegation will also be discussing the draw-down of a third and final USD 500 mn tranche of its USD 1.5 bn loan.
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President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is in Berlin today, where he’s expected to sign agreements worth a combined EUR 207 mn. El Sisi will meet talk terrorism and illegal migration with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the trip. The two leaders had made headway on cooperation on migration during her visit to Egypt in March, at which time she pledged USD 500 mn in new aid for Egypt and promised El Sisi additional help to help thwart human trafficking and illegal migration. El Sisi is expected to attend the G20 African Partnership Conference that launches today; in addition to other African heads of state, attendees will include representatives of the World Bank, IMF, and African Development Bank.
El Sisi is set to deliver a speech and attend a roundtable on private investment in Africaninfrastructure at the German Chancellery. Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser who will also speak on projects in Egypt. El Sisi will kick off the Egyptian-German Business Forum, Egyptian Ambassador to Berlin Badr Abdel Aty said, Al Mal reports. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for an interview with a German TV channel.
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Amazon signs agreements with Egyptian companies: A number of Egyptian companies have inked agreements with Amazon that will see the global web retailer distribute their products in Europe and the US through its platform, Mintra CEO Hany Casis tells Al Ahram while wearing his hat as vice-chairman of the Chemical Industries Export Council. Mintra had closed an agreement with Amazon in March. Casis said at the time that the retail giant was looking to contract three companies in Egypt to handle the flow of products to and from Europe and the States. Amazon was also said in March to be looking at establishing a distribution center in Egypt.
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EARNINGS WATCH- Transport solutions provider Egytrans grew its net profit after tax more than threefold in 1Q2017 to EGP 20.3 mn, from EGP 6.1 mn 1Q2016, according to a company release (pdf). The increase comes on the back of a 282% rise in revenues, which came in at EGP 111 mn this quarter, driven by the company’s participating in major power projects. “The rate of change in our financial metrics has been significant over the last twelve months,” Egytrans Chairman Abir Leheta says. “We continued to focus our portfolio around high-margin, high rate-of-return business, implement meaningful cost reductions across our business, and strengthen our financial position, while seeing structural improvements.”
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Children born to women who later become Egyptian citizens can themselves claim citizenship –court. The Supreme Administrative Court ruled yesterday that two children have a legitimate claim to Egyptian citizenship even though their Jordanian-born mother didn’t become an Egyptian national until after the two were born. It’s the first such verdict from the court, Al Shorouk reports. Until yesterday’s verdict, children could only claim citizenship via maternal inheritance if their mother was an Egyptian citizen (born or naturalized) at the time of the child’s birth. Two cheers from us this morning for common sense in the judiciary.
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52 websites are being blocked, not 21, including Medium, the noted dispenser of corporate platitudes and millennial drivel: The Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) claims that an unnamed “sovereign authority” has ordered blocked 52 websites and not 21 has been previously reported. Al Bedaya news website, which AFTE doesn’t list, has also reportedly been blocked, its Chief Editor Khaled El Balshy tells AMAY. Access to 21 news websites, including Al Jazeera, Mada Masr, and Huffington Post, was restricted last month amid allegations they had published fake news and / or were hosting pro-terror content. Oddly enough, blogging platform Medium (a favourite of millennials and corporate “thought leaders” alike) is included on the list (and does not open for us this morning).
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Is Uber CEO Travis Kalanick on his way out? Uber’s board reportedly met on Sunday to discuss whether co-founder and controversial CEO Travis Kalanick would be stepping back. Kalanick could go on temporary leave or shift into another role, write Leslie Hook and Tim Bradshaw for the Financial Times. Kalanick wouldn’t be the only one to fall either. Long time deputy and Senior Vice President of Business Emil Michael could also be sidelined. The move comes on the back of a report into Uber’s internal practices and diversity prepared by former US Attorney General Eric Holder. The report looked into allegations, which have increased over the past year and includes [redacted] harassment and falsely obtaining medical records. Recode looks at who could take over in the interim. Reuters and the New York Times also have the story.
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