{"id":635668,"date":"2017-12-11T04:09:41","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T04:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/12\/11\/what-were-tracking-on-11-december-2017\/"},"modified":"2017-12-11T04:09:41","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T04:09:41","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-11-december-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/12\/11\/what-were-tracking-on-11-december-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 11 December 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives today to discuss a host of issues with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, <\/strong>chief amongst which are the signing of the Dabaa nuclear power plant contracts and the resumption of direct flights between Moscow and Cairo. Also on the agenda are potential arms sales. We have confirmation from Ittihadiya that some sort of accord will be inked during the summit to get the ball rolling on the USD 30 bn power plant, but it remains unclear when exactly the contracts will be signed and sealed. We have more in today\u2019s Speed Round, below.<\/p>\n

El Sisi is also set to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo today<\/strong> for one-on-one talks<\/a> on the US\u2019 declaration last week recognizing Jerusalem as the official capital of Israel. Abbas arrived in Cairo last night<\/a> as modest numbers of demonstrators hit the streets in cities including Cairo and Alexandria to protest moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, Egyptian Streets reports<\/a>. Meanwhile, the Arab League adopted yesterday a resolution demanding that US President Donald Trump rescind the declaration, the AP\u2019s Hamza Hendawi reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A House delegation is meeting with European Parliament officials today<\/strong> to discuss legislative and economic developments in Egypt, Egypt\u2019s ambassador to Belgium Khaled El Bakly tells Al Masry Al Youm<\/a>. The delegation, headed by House Planning Committee Chairman Hassan Eissa, is making the pitch for investment over loans as the best way to spur economic development in Egypt.<\/p>\n

<\/a> ***<\/strong>Take our end-of-year survey \u2014 get a bag of Enterprise-branded coffee and cool mugs from which to drink it:<\/strong><\/a> It\u2019s that time of the year again \u2014 we want you to help us gauge how well business went during the year. What are the biggest challenges you faced during the year? Where will the exchange rate stabilise? How big do you expect your employer\u2019s raises to be? Are you hiring? Help us find out. You\u2019ll get the chance to become one of 25 people who\u2019ll get our end of year giveaway package consisting of Enterprise swag and our first-ever Enterprise-branded batch of coffee, which we\u2019ve put together with good friends in the coffee business. (More on that in a later issue.)<\/p>\n

Making headlines in the global business and finance press:<\/p>\n

Bitcoin futures began trading overnight on a Chicago futures exchange. <\/strong>There was enough interest that the exchange\u2019s website bonked multiple times under the load. January bitcoin contracts opened at USD 15k and were trading at USD 16,250 at about 4:20am CLT. Tap or click here to check out the CBOE page and get bitcoin future trading data<\/a>. The story is front-page news for the Wall Street Journal<\/a> and Reuters<\/a>. Need to get up to speed? The guy on the bitcoin beat for the Journal since 2013 has a video explainer about the cryptocurrency (watch, runtime: 1:44<\/a>). And as always, one of your go-to resources for bitcoin news should be Coindesk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Which brings to mind the best bitcoin joke we\u2019ve read recently on the tweeter<\/strong> (which isn\u2019t saying much, as jokes go): \u201cYou want to borrow USD 10,000 to travel across Europe this summer, son? In bitcoin? What are you going to do with USD 14,736? I mean, really, USD 9,812 is a lot of money. How are you going to pay back USD 11,923?\u201d<\/p>\n

The World Trade Organization is meeting in Buenos Aires, and EU officials are using it as a platform to take a swipe at The Donald\u2019s trade policies<\/strong>, the Wall Street Journal<\/a> reports: \u201cEuropean Union officials said the U.S. is threatening to cripple global commerce by undermining the World Trade Organization,\u201d the Journal reports, \u201cEU officials said the U.S. is pulling back from its position as the world\u2019s pre-eminent guardian of free trade, and that the resulting lack of broader ambition among WTO members will likely make the trade gathering unproductive.\u201d The ministerial gathering runs through Wednesday, and you can check out the agenda here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And for your morning dose of miscellany:<\/p>\n