Good morning, lovely people. It’s a slow newsday as we near the midweek mark, with only a few regional updates worth noting — though there’s a lot on the global front to dig your teeth into.

THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY- Turkey could extend its railway by building 133 km of rail to link it to Iraq through the USD 17 bn Development Road Project. The plans — which were discussed during General Railway Company Director General Younis Al Kaabi’s visit to Turkey — are a stepping stone to bilateral agreements set to be inked between the countries soon.

^^ We have more details on this story and more in the news well, below.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Tropical storm Hilary has caused over 4.5k flight disruptions in the US, mainly for flights headed to or originating from California and nearby states, CNN reports. Airports in Las Vegas and San Diego are among the most affected, with Harry Reid International in Las Vegas seeing over 300 flights canceled and San Diego International experiencing cancellations for around 40% of its arriving and departing flights. There have also been some delays at Denver and Phoenix international airports, as the impact of the storm expands. Worsening conditions have prompted California and Nevada’s governors to declare states of emergency due to anticipated intense rainfall and flooding.

The Brics summit kicks off today: Brics leaders are gathering for their 15th heads of state summit today, tomorrow and Thursday in Johannesburg, South Africa. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to attend, Reuters reports, while Putin is expected to take part virtually due to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against him for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. The leaders are expected to discuss the expansion of Brics, the Brics bank, economic cooperation, and relations with non-member states.

REMEMBER- Many regional states want in on Brics, and this could be their shot: Egypt, the UAE, KSA, Iran, and Algeria are all looking to join the alliance. Several countries could be invited into the organization during the summit, the Financial Times quotes officials in the know as saying. Each of the five members have come out in support of enlarging the bloc, the most recent of which was South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who said yesterday that a bigger Brics will create “a more balanced world order.” More than 20 countries have formally applied to join the organization, he said.

Is there a point to expanding membership without Saudi Arabia? The economic significance of adding new member countries to the Brics bloc would largely depend on Saudi Arabia's participation, economist Jim O’Neill, known for coining the BRIC acronym, told Bloomberg. Saudi Arabia's potential inclusion would hold substantial importance due to its strong ties with the US and its role as a major global oil producer, O’Neill said, adding that this could also potentially lead to de-dollarization if oil begins to be sold in Brics’ countries’ local currencies.

WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Japan is prepping for a meeting of foreign ministers with GCC member states in early September in Saudi Arabia, Japan’s Kyodo news agency quotes diplomatic sources as saying. Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is expected to attend the meeting and possibly visit Jordan and Egypt, sources told Kyodo. This comes amid Japan's efforts to strengthen its relations with the GCC countries to ensure energy supply, as it relies on the six GCC countries for more than 90% of its crude oil, Kyodo writes.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Europe is eyeing Iranian gas imports through Turkey: Several European states have engaged in discussions with Iran to import gas via Turkey, semi-official news agency Mehr reports, citing Iranian Oil Minister Majid Chegeni. Iran is also in talks to export to Turkey, Oman and Russia, and is working to revive a contract with Pakistan.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3 - Iran and Brazil plan to launch a direct shipping line between the two countries in the near future, Tasnim news agency quotes head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran Mehdi Zeyghami as saying. Iran’s first commercial envoy will also be deployed to Brazil soon, Zeyghami said, as the two countries look to bolster trade ties.

WATCH THIS SPACE #4- Egypt eyes two shipping lines to eastern + southern Africa: Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly called on export agencies and chambers of commerce to work on operating two regular shipping lines connecting Egypt with countries in east and south Africa,according to a cabinet statement. The agencies and chambers should set up a meeting to coordinate with the transport and trade ministries to decide on the commodities the country can export to African countries, the statement said.

MARKET WATCH-

OOCL sees hope in the container shipping market this year, albeit not without uncertainties: The container shipping market is “very far from being in disaster territory,” shipping giant Orient Overseas Container Line’s (OOCL) said in its latest earnings release. Contradictory market signals, however, make future projections harder, the company admits. “There are some indications that demand is improving and that shipping companies are behaving rationally in the face of fluctuating demand —- all of this is reassuring,” the company said, while adding that inflation, higher interest rates and economic uncertainties all still pose risks to its outlook. OOCL is not the first shipping giant to warn of murky times ahead, with Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd making similar warnings in recent weeks.

The company reported an 80% fall in net income to USD 1.13 bn in 1H 2023, with revenues more than halving on a y-o-y basis during the period to reach USD 4.5 mn amid weakened consumer demand and a fall in freight rates, the company said.

CHECK OUT OUR AGENDA-

The Enterprise Finance Forum is taking place on 18-19 September at the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo. This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.

This is our first two-day event,which should give us plenty of time to dive into the nitty gritty of this industry we love. Our panels will see CEOs, bankers, investors and founders gather to discuss the future and trends shaping banking, finance, fintech and NBFS.

Our full agenda will be out at month’s end. Among the topics we’ll be discussing:

• Looking into the crystal ball: Top industry CEOs will join us on stage to answer tough questions on where we are as an industry, the forces that will shape all of our businesses going forward, and their views on dealflow in the year ahead.

• Surviving nuclear winter: We discuss how private equity and venture capital players are tackling challenges including fundraising and deployment in an environment in which it’s awfully difficult to price your local asset in USD terms.
• The robots are coming: We explore what the coming AI and big data means for the industry in our part of the world and what can bankers, NBFI, and fintech players do to capitalize on them.
• What do you do when nobody wants to be a banker — and when those who are already (investment or commercial) bankers are either (a) dreaming of doing their own startup or (b) moving to Dubai (or, increasingly, Riyadh)? We go deep into the weeds with industry leaders on how they’re building talent for tomorrow.
• NBFIs are a bubble. Prove me wrong: We chart the explosive rise of NBFIs and ask whether the industry is ready for a wave of consolidation. We’ll dive into whether consumer finance is starting to mature as a segment — and ask which sector is next.
• Handicapping the winners and losers in fintech in 2024: We dive deep into which categories are getting traction, where the untapped opportunities are, what business they would start today if they could, and what we can expect of the sector in the year ahead.
• What’s a bank, anyway? Wherein we talk challenger and neobanks with the players looking to shake up the brick-and-mortar industry.

** NEW: MORE NETWORKING TIME- Our agenda includes expanded networking time, including an expanded coffee break and a post-event networking room for you to interact with your peers and speak one-on-one with the team at Enterprise.

STAY TUNED for more detail about our exciting agenda in the weeks to come.

TAP OR CLICK HERE if you want to express interest in attending. We’ll be sending out the first batch of invitations soon.

Do you want to become a commercial partner? Ping a note to Moustafa Taalab, our head of commercial.

LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST-

MISSED OUR PREVIOUS FORUMS? The EnterprisePodcast has you covered : The Enterprise Podcast’s forum series has been bringing you audio recordings of what was said on stage at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum and the Enterprise Climate Forum.

WANT TO LISTEN? Head to: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast | Anghami.

IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE- In our second panel from the Enterprise Climate Forum, We dive deep into what the business leaders in the climate industry in Egypt and the region have to say about how the private sector is adopting greentech, where they see the opportunities and what they’d like policymakers to do to encourage further participation. We were joined by Amr Allam, co-CEO of Hassan Allam Holding, Mohamed Ismail Mansour, CEO and co-founder of Infinity, and Sherif El Kholy, longtime partner and head of MENA private equity at Actis.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Algeria’s speaker of the People’s National Assembly Ibrahim Boughali is in Tehran this week for a five-day visit that will see him discuss enhancing bilateral trade and economic cooperation with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Qalibaf, Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reports. The two officials already discussed potentially expanding shipping routes, Iran’s state-aligned Tasnim News Agency reported.

Saudi Arabia will host the Sustainable Maritime Industry Conference from Monday, 4 September to Wednesday, 6 September in Jeddah. Organized by KSA’s Transport and Logistic Services Ministry, the event will feature over 50 speakers to spotlight sustainability, new technologies, and digitization efforts in the maritime industry. Speakers will include International Maritime Organization Secretary General Kitack Lim and World Ocean Council CEO Paul Holthus.

DP World and Greater Caspian Association and Integral Group of Companies are teaming up to host the Caspian Week Forum 2023 during the Global Freight Summit taking place from 15-17 November at the Coca Cola arena in Dubai, UAE. The Caspian Week Forum will be dedicated to strengthening ties between the Greater Caspian Region (GCR) and the world in business and economics, and will focus mainly on the development of trade and logistics in the GCR, establishing new logistic corridors, and discussing key regional challenges, Emirates News Agency(WAM) reports.

The Leaders in Logistics KSA Summit takes place on 5 September at the Crowne Plaza in Al Waha, Riyadh. The summit will delve into the national initiatives that aim to enhance Saudi Arabia’s logistics sector, highlighting the latest market trends and the importance of tech and sustainability to the sector.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.