During the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, many were skeptical about commitments to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2030. “We have kept 1.5 degrees alive … but its pulse is weak,” said Alok Sharma, president of COP26, during concluding remarks last November. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2018 report, warming above 1.5 degrees would result in irreversible and increasingly severe crises During the “Building Momentum to U.N. COP27” forum held Jan. 24-25, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzanne Clark said COP26 had…
Author: Tamer Hafez
Looking to next year, uncertainty will continue to dominate the business landscape as countries react to the Omicron variant. The United States announced a free-to-travel pass for fully inoculated incoming visitors in mid-December. They have also kept the economy mostly open. On the flip side, the Netherlands is in economic lockdown until mid-January, leaving only supermarkets and essential shops open. The U.K. and E.U. countries are in partial lockdowns, preventing some travelers from entering and closing some entertainment facilities. The U.K. also is threatening to impose movement restrictions if Omicron infections persist. On the other hand, China is fully open,…
As many would attest, Egypt has never been the “go-to” place for the super-rich international travelers. It is much better known as a destination for budget-friendly package tours. Even the state has prioritized quantity, to the point of offering incentives to tour and charter flight operators bringing in groups from overseas. There are, however, a handful of areas in Egypt that cater to high-end international travelers, such as the yacht ports at El Gouna in the Red Sea and Porto Marina and Marasi along the North Coast. Yet, it’s always been individual efforts from developers rather than an all-out strategy…
The Biden administration is putting climate change at the “center” of its foreign policy. That opens the door for Egypt to promote eco-sustainable investments by capitalizing on the slew of initiatives available through U.S. federal agencies. For many Egyptians, concerns about climate change and environmental crises might feel like fiction. With Egypt’s large swaths of desert, drought-fueled forest fires such as those in Australia in December 2019 are not a concern, and rainfall here has yet to reach the torrential levels experienced by European countries in July when 242 people died. Instead, average Egyptians might be more likely to notice…
With the government’s ambitious plans to build new infrastructure, public service, and utility facilities, Parliament passed amendments to Law 67 for 2010 in November to attract more private sector companies. Few doubts linger over the current administration’s prioritization of infrastructure, public services and utility investments. At the November Al Mal GTM investment conference, the state unveiled plans to build 45 new cities by 2052, highlighting the importance of those projects. Talking to the media in October, Hala El-Said, minister of planning and economic development, said the government wants the private sector to do most of the heavy lifting as partners…
It has been hard to miss the narrative from the government about the importance of economic cooperation with Africa’s Sub-Saharan African nations. Every two years since the current administration came to power in 2015, there has been a forum with African countries to discuss investment opportunities. In 2018, Egypt announced a strategy to facilitate exports on the continent and advocated for merging all three African blocs into the African Continental Free Trade Area. Industry and Trade Minister Nevine Gamea visited Cameroon and Senegal in June to explore trade and investment opportunities. She stressed to the media in those two countries…
As fresh university graduates seek to start careers and raise families, one of their chief goals is to own their homes. Unfortunately, that has gotten a lot more difficult in almost every major economy. “We are witnessing sections of society being shut out of parts of … cities because they can no longer afford apartments,” Berlin Mayor Micheal Mueller told Bloomberg Linea in September. At least 10 major economies have seen housing prices and rent skyrocket in 2021, increasing by double-digit percentages. That includes the United States, where the real estate market’s collapse led to the 2008 global financial crisis.…
In Egypt, which imports everything from commodities, such as wheat, to luxury items and manufacturing supplies, shipping costs and delays significantly impact business health. Since the beginning of the pandemic, freight prices have been rising at unprecedented rates. Robert Khachatyan, COO of Freight Global Logistics, said that in 2020, 90% of his cargo moved at premium rates that were nearly 10 times what they were in 2019, according to Freightos, a specialized portal. Those sudden astronomical jumps affected the prices of even the most trivial goods. Christopher Tse, CEO of Musical Electronics, a Hong Kong toymaker, has seen the cost…
On the heels of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) belated approval of the Pfizer vaccine, President Joe Biden on Sept. 10, introduced a sweeping emergency executive order requiring companies with 100 or more employees to ensure that their workforces are fully vaccinated or produce negative COVID-19 tests at least once a week. The new requirements are a step to “combat those blocking public health,” Biden said during the announcement, noting that about 80 million Americans had not yet received their first dose. “We have tools to combat the virus … if we can come together as a country to…
When assessing economic sustainability, it’s hard to deny that Egypt has a long way to go. In the latest UN Sustainable Development Index, which the United Nations has published every year since 2015 to assess progress toward its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Egypt ranked 83rd out of 166 nations. However, that is a marked improvement over 2019, when the ranking was 92nd out of 162 states. Regionally, Egypt lags somewhat, given the size, diversity and sophistication of its economy. It ranks seventh among the 20 Arab states and fourth among 47 African countries. However, Egypt is No. 1 among its…