Egypt ramps up electricity exports to Libya

Egypt has boosted its electricity export to Libya by 43% to reach 100 MW, following a nationwide grid collapse in Libya last month, according to a government official cited by the Arabic press. This comes after a meeting between Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Libya’s Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in New Alamein and Libya reportedly cleared some USD 100 mn in accumulated electricity import arrears dating back to 2023.

ICYMI- Earlier in July, a failed transmission line in western Libya cascaded into a nationwide blackout, knocking out roughly 1.4 GW and cutting power and water to most of the country. Egypt began providing 70 MW of power to Libya after Tripoli paid down the arrears, with a schedule to clear the remaining USD 41 mn of a USD 141 mn tab before end-2026.

Shared login?

Will the GCC get a unified logistics platform? The GCC General Secretariat is reviewing a proposal to create a unified digital platform linking logistics services across the six member states, the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry told Al Eqtisadiah after it submitted this proposal. The proposal has been referred to ministerial committees for review before any implementation decisions.

What it would do: The platform would connect shipping companies, importers, exporters, warehouse operators, ports, and logistics zones, while providing real-time data on port capacity, transport costs, customs procedures, storage availability, and freezones. It would also include AI-powered route and service matching, allowing users to compare logistics options across sea, land, and air. A pilot phase is planned before any wider rollout.

Why this matters: The Hormuz crisis has highlighted the lack of a coordinated Gulf logistics system, with cargo rerouted through ad hoc bilateral arrangements and emergency measures. A shared platform could make capacity and routing options more transparent across the GCC.

But don’t hold your breath just yet: The proposal must first clear ministerial review, and GCC integration projects have often taken years to move from agreement to implementation. And even if it advances, many of the logistics synergies that could be unlocked through GCC cooperation may require less of a digitized platform for real-time data and more of a cross-border regulation that unifies customs and clearance rules, as well as freight and road safety — which are historically key friction points at the borders.

Test…test…export

Tunisian-born EV startup Bako Motors has exported its first batch of cars to Germany as part of a 20-vehicle order, just a few weeks after becoming the first Tunisian automaker to obtain a European certificate of conformity. The export push comes at a critical juncture in the Tunisian innovator’s push to scale up its production and enter new markets, with plans to export 88 vehicles to Europe in 2026 and 800 in 2027. The company’s production is currently evenly split between domestic and export markets, with plans to scale exports to account for 70% of production, Founder and CEO Boubaker Siala previously told us.

Bako Motors is making a niche bet on compact EVs that integrate solar power and lithium batteries. The company makes compact cars and cargo vans, and has a few global competitors in this niche, such as the Netherlands’ Squad Mobility, India’s Vayve Mobility and US-based Aptera Motors. The startup was founded in 2021, initially designing three-wheelers before pivoting to compact four-wheelers, and has so far sold some 400 vehicles in the domestic market. Beyond Germany, Bako Motors’ export orderbook includes Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Italy, and France.

GO DEEPER- Bako’s export drive is the ‘build local, scale global’ playbook that has come to define Tunisia's tech scene, as we reported in June. “We started in Tunisia for about three years. We validated the product, the production line, and the market. And then we moved to Saudi and Europe,” Bako Motors Siala told us, pointing at a similar arc that also carried expense-management platform Expensya to a USD 120 mn-plus sale to Sweden's Medius and AI firm InstaDeep to a roughly USD 680 mn exit to BioNTech — two of Africa's largest tech exits despite coming out of one of North Africa's smallest economies.