{"id":601381,"date":"2019-02-27T04:01:18","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T04:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/02\/27\/what-were-tracking-on-27-february-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-02-27T04:01:18","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T04:01:18","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-27-february-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/02\/27\/what-were-tracking-on-27-february-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 27 February 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The slow news week continues<\/b>, at home and abroad. It\u2019s not a seasonal thing, just a quirk of the news cycle: A year ago, we were busily discussing a USD 15 bn agreement to import gas<\/a> from Israel and a veritable ton of M&A and investment news<\/a> here at home, while internationally the news was about then-new US Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell and China abolishing term limits.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s edition of the <\/b>International Conference on Petroleum Mineral Resources and Development<\/b><\/a> kicked off yesterday<\/b> at the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute in Nasr City. With opening speeches from the oil and higher education ministers, the event is essentially a three-day expert discussion on oil and gas, renewables and resource management.<\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s bid to steady its economy and restore political stability is allowing it to return to its traditional role as a regional player<\/b>, according to analysis from once-high-flying intel outfit Stratfor<\/a>. The geopolitical intelligence firm says that the economic benefits of the IMF-backed reform program and the newly-discovered Mediterranean gas fields, combined with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi\u2019s consolidation of power, is allowing Egypt to strengthen its regional influence and balance its alliances with the US, Russia and China. As a result, Stratfor predicts that the country is likely to become increasingly assertive with other states looking to control the Nile and the Eastern Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

Bonus: An Egypt population density map<\/b>, which reminds us just how concentrated along the Nile we all are.<\/p>\n

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Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly won re-election as president of Nigeria<\/b> according to the latest results from Saturday\u2019s general election, the BBC<\/a> reports. The party of challenger Atiku Abubakar has apparently \u201crejected the result.\u201d Look for the results of the poll, which saw less than 35% of registered voters turn out, to be made official today.<\/p>\n

The Donald and that chap who runs North Korea kick off a two-day summit today <\/b>in Vietnam. Among the more interesting of the many, many takes on the story now circulating is Hannah Beech\u2019s piece for the New York Times, wherein Vietnamese communists make the case that North Korea has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform \u201cfrom a closed society strangled by central planners to a bustling nation full of capitalist enterprise.\u201d Read: Cozy up to US, Vietnam tells North Korea. Look what it did for us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And speaking of Jay Powell: The Fed chairman has a warning for us all. <\/b>\u201cSlowing growth in Europe and China and \u2018elevated\u2019 uncertainty over Brexit and trade are continuing to weigh on the Federal Reserve\u2019s policy outlook, chairman Jay Powell said, even as he gave a broadly favourable health check to the US economy,\u201d the Financial Times<\/a> reports. CNBC<\/a> and the WSJ<\/a> have also taken note of his remarks, as has Bloomberg Opinion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Is the future of the mobile phone foldable? <\/b>That notion has captured the imagination of the world\u2019s business and technology writers after Huawei and Samsung each debuted folding smartphones at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week. The Verge\u2019s Vlad Savov called it, as he so often does, having predicted last weekend that when the iPhone doesn\u2019t change, Android phones get weird<\/a>. Now, the Financial Times is asking whether \u201cfoldable phones are more than just a gimmick?<\/a>\u201d and Business Insider is noting that smartphones \u201cgetting weird again<\/a> \u2026 could be a sign that the industry is on the brink of another huge change.\u201d And the Woz, naturally, wants a folding iPhone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re at it: Don\u2019t believe the 5G hype. <\/b>At least not yet, AFP warns in a well-timed piece. 5G will make make near-instant movie downloads possible and enable new technologies including self-driving cars, but the reality is that even in developed markets, a high-speed, zero-latency internet \u201cwill only be a reality in 2023-25.\u201d To get there, network operators need to invest bns in infrastructure and device makers need to roll out 5G handsets people will actually want to buy. Read the AFP piece<\/a> or check out the list of 5G handsets announced at MWC.<\/p>\n

In miscellany worth your attention this morning:<\/b><\/p>\n