This interview appeared in our November 2023 issue. Suez Canal Economic Zone Chairman Waleid Gamal El-Dien, talks about hydrogen projects that would allow Egypt to become a regional hub in a one-on-one interview with Business Monthly. All replies were edited for length and clarity. What are your plans to make the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) environmentally friendly? We are determined to attract companies and projects committed to the conservation of natural resources, pollution reduction, and other environmentally conscious business practices. Companies are obliged to conduct an environmental and social impact assessment before acquiring their permits, thus ensuring investments coming…
Author: Tamer Hafez
For pundits, summer was a teaser of what could happen if the world doesn’t limit the average global temperature increase to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of pre-industrial levels. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, an EU monitoring body, about a third of the days this year saw average global temperatures cross that threshold. Unusual rainfall patterns resulted in severe droughts, causing massive forest fires, while flash floods in other places decimated communities. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the number of climate disasters exceeding $1 billion in damage increased by nearly 28% in…
When it comes to untapped investment potential in Africa, nothing compares to investing in clean and green energy generated from environmentally friendly sources. As UN Secretary-General Antόnio Guterres told the African Climate Summit in September: “Renewable energy could be the African miracle.” “A clean energy transition across the world’s developing nations will be crucial to keep alive the Paris Agreement goal [announced in 2015] of capping global warming ‘well below’ two degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, and 1.5C if possible,” said Guterres. Achieving that will require a lot of money. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in the next…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming the underlying technology that will future-proof economies and companies’ long-term growth prospects. McKinsey Global Institute predicted in a July report that “artificial intelligence is set to add up to $4.4 trillion of value to the global economy annually.” Generative AI, which includes chatbots such as ChatGPT that can generate text in response to prompts, is currently the biggest driver of innovations. “Generative AI has the potential to change the anatomy of work, augmenting the capabilities of individual workers by automating some of their individual activities,” said the McKinsey report. Africa needs to expedite the…
A primary goal of most countries is to boost the wealth of their citizens. In communications with the U.N. Development Programme, the Egyptian government said in 2018 that its Egypt Vision 2030 strategy aims to increase GDP per capita from $10,250 in 2015 to $14,270 by 2030. According to World Bank metrics, that jump would improve Egypt’s classification from middle income, defined as GDP per capita between $1,136 and $13,845, to high income. Such a transition could prove challenging. “What typically follows [overcoming] poverty and deprivation … is a growth slowdown that, historically, made further progress toward high-income levels exceedingly…
Operating for over 60 years, Pfizer Egypt “has been evolving,” says Ahmed El Shazly, cluster lead ELI (Egypt, the Levant, Iraq) and country manager for Pfizer Egypt. “Now we are focusing on increasing our presence in the country and developing our approaches to better cater to the market’s needs.” Besides vaccines, Pfizer Egypt produces medicines for cancer, rare diseases, inflammation & immunology, and hospitals. It also engages with local government initiatives that support millions of patients. Pfizer Egypt plans to offer more of the latest and most advanced medicines that Pfizer Global has developed to support patients’ needs. “Amid the…
The panic to secure medical advice and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the integration of technology into healthcare. That development continues in 2023 and beyond. “Health care is entering a period of profound and accelerated change,” said the World Bank’s Digital-in-Health report in August. The document noted those changes go “beyond the notion of new technology or digital solution[s] to digitize an existing process … The change brewing in the health sector is existential in nature — person-centered health care, embracing new medical and health discoveries.” Those new healthcare solutions will require “the integration of previously separate disciplines.”…
One of the biggest problems facing Egyptians has always been the quality of healthcare services. Given the country’s low-middle income status (based on World Bank classifications) and a population nearing 110 million, the government has long struggled to ensure top-tier, affordable healthcare. A 2019 report by the Demographic and Health Survey Program (DHSP), published by USAID, said Egypt’s healthcare system “faces not only the burden of combating illnesses associated with poverty and lack of education, but it must also respond to emerging diseases and illnesses associated with modern, urban life.” To improve healthcare services and increase medical investment, the Ministry…
Egypt’s Suez Canal has been at the heart of trade between Africa, Europe, and Asia since it opened in 1869. Marwan El Sammak, Chairman and CEO of Ship & Crew – Egypt, says, “It is a brilliant way to connect [Asia and Europe] using an all-water solution.” However, that status is under increasing pressure as more countries, particularly in Asia, search for alternative routes. Further complicating the situation for the Suez Canal is that some routes are faster and cost less. They also can be less vulnerable to blockage and accommodate increasingly bigger vessels. “The blocking of the Suez Canal…
One of the hallmarks of the global economic system since World War II is that cross-border trade gets easier with time. “Global trade, in many ways, makes the world go round,” said a January note from the World Bank. “Think of any electronic good, clothing item or perhaps a chocolate bar; all everyday items which are in consumers’ hands and homes [are] because of global trade.” That openness created “better jobs, reduced poverty and increased economic opportunities,” said Mona Haddad, global director for trade, investment and competitiveness at the World Bank Group in January. International trade “has lifted more than…