Egypt votes on Saudi defense support

Good afternoon, friends, and welcome to a new workweek. Riyadh is still firmly leading the conversation in our neck of the woods, as it reopens its capital city’s airport ahead of its biggest investment week of the year, and Cairo is gearing up to help defend Saudi Arabia against continued Houthi attacks.

Egypt’s parliament is set to resume today and tomorrow a closed session on whether to authorize the country’s armed forces to support Saudi Arabia in its war with the Houthis, after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said Egypt will take “any measure” to defend Saudi Arabia if asked.

The Egyptian vote comes after Riyadh reopened King Khalid International Airport a day later than planned, with regional carriers moving first to resume flights. Gulf Air is running to schedule and Malaysia Airlines resumed Jeddah and Madinah on Sunday, according to The National. Rebuilding the long-haul timetable will take longer than reopening the runway. Air France is suspended to 24 October, KLM to 31 October and Lufthansa’s Riyadh service to 18 November, British Airways returns on 3 November with one daily flight, Cathay Pacific is out until 31 January, and Delta has moved its Atlanta-Riyadh launch from this Friday to March 2027.

Airlines are resuming operations slowly as FII10 is still scheduled to run from 26 to 29 October. The FII Institute has confirmed 33 names, among them Jamie Dimon, David Solomon, Larry Fink, Stephen Schwarzman, Ray Dalio, Marc Rowan, Scott Nuttall, Adebayo Ogunlesi, Bill Winters, Georges Elhedery and Lubna Olayan, alongside Yasir Al Rumayyan, Amin Nasser, Patrick Pouyanné, Ruth Porat, and Humain’s Tareq Amin.

Back in Cairo: El Sisi confirmed that his presidency will end in 2030, calling that “completely settled” and adding that the constitution “won’t be touched.” El Sisi also proposed a 30-month programme to prepare PhD holders for senior state posts including the presidency, with a committee under the House Speaker setting selection criteria and drafting a law on how candidates are elected.

AND- Iraq has formally asked the IMF for a financing package, managing director Kristalina Georgieva said at the close of the fund’s meetings in Bangkok, Bloomberg reports. “We will [give] to Iraq both money and policy support,” she said. Talks with Lebanon over a possible program also made progress, Georgieva added, which would put two of the region’s most strained sovereigns into fund programs at the same time. –Salma