Day: January 11, 2023

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met on 10/1/2023 with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali Moselhy, Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Saeid, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Al Sayed Al Qaseer, Head of the Financial Affairs Authority of the Armed Forces Major General Ahmed El-Shazly, Director General of the National Service Projects Authority of the Armed Forces Major General Walid Abul-Magd, Head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority Major General Ahmed El-Azazy and Executive Director of the Future of Egypt for Sustainable Development Authority Colonel Pilot Bahaa El-Ghannam.

The Spokesman for the Presidency said the meeting reviewed the food security system and the strategic stock of basic commodities nationwide.

The President was briefed on the strategic stock of all basic food commodities, within the framework of the state’s plans to maintain strategic stocks, while taking into account the current global food crisis. The President gave directives to maintain the state’s strategic stock of basic commodities. This is in addition to making the best use of the strategic silos that were established throughout the country to increase the volume of storage and thus contributing to maintaining the stability of the country’s food security position.

The President also followed-up on the developments of the current season of wheat cultivation nationwide and gave directives to determine the price of wheat supply to achieve a profitable economic return for farmers and support increasing the quantities of wheat supply.

Source: State Information Service Egypt

BEIRUT, Lebanon’s startups are facing numerous challenges, in light of the country’s political instability and the economic crisis that started in 2019.

Wassim Kari, a co-founder of Parallel Health and Beauty, a group of companies focusing on digital content and e-commerce in the beauty field in the Levant region, told Xinhua that, one significant challenge facing Lebanese startups is the lack of access to funds, as the local venture capital ecosystem slowed its activity, amid the current political instability.

“It is challenging to operate a business in a hyperinflation environment, where we strive to grow faster than inflation rates and reduce our costs to secure sustainable operations … So growth and profitability are big challenges in Lebanon, but it also provides an opportunity to learn new ways to run our startup,” he said.

Kari said, the crisis in Lebanon pushed startups to expand outside the country, to maintain their growth and survival. His company, for example, has already succeeded in expanding its operations to Jordan and Egypt, while also registering a holding company for his business in Cyprus, to attract additional funding to his business.

Kari’s company is also facing the challenge of rebuilding talent, amid the brain drain, following the Beirut blast and financial crisis.

“My partners and I had to recreate the whole team and provide training all over again to our new people,” he said.

Toufic Azar, a co-founder of Meacor, a startup developing a novel catheter for the treatment of heart valves, said, the lengthy governmental procedures and paperwork, as well as, the outdated laws impede business in Lebanon.

Azar now puts the company’s headquarters in the United States, where he thought, the entity registration and fundraising are much quicker, leaving only an R&D office in Beirut.

Maroun Chammas, CEO of Berytech, an institution that supports Lebanese entrepreneurs, startups and business owners, noted that, Lebanese entrepreneurs need help accessing overseas markets, mainly when exporting food products, which requires a series of certifications.

An additional challenge facing entrepreneurs in Lebanon is the high cost of electricity, which could make up around 35 to 50 percent of the total operational costs, said Chammas.

Chammas said that, the startups in Lebanon currently provide around 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, mainly in agricultural technology and clean technology.

He stated that, the future of entrepreneurship could be promising in Lebanon, if the country succeeds in restoring security and stability, to provide the investor with a law-based framework. At the same time, he emphasised the need to undertake reforms, restructure the banking sector, and improve the infrastructure, including electricity.

Source: Nam News Network

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met on Tuesday 10/1/2023 with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Al Sayed Al Qaseer, Director General of the National Service Projects Authority of the Armed Forces Major General Walid Abul-Magd and Executive Director of the Future of Egypt for Sustainable Development Authority Colonel Pilot Bahaa El-Ghannam.

The Spokesman for the Presidency said the meeting followed- up on the development of the Egyptian agricultural export system.

The minister of agriculture presented the unprecedented development in the Egyptian agricultural export system, particularly the governance of export procedures and the new coding system that is applied to Egyptian agricultural exports to track and tighten control over them from export farms to importing countries.

This is carried out under the supervision of the regulatory authorities, while providing farmers and exporters with all technical guidance related to the requirements of good agricultural practices in accordance with the highest internationally applied environmental export standards.

This is in addition to using the best seedlings of the varieties required globally and providing the necessary laboratory services to guarantee their safety. This was reflected in the increase in the Egyptian agricultural crops exports and the opening of new markets. Exports in 2022 reached about 6.43 million tons to nearly 160 countries, achieving export revenues of about $ 3.3 billion.

The President gave directives to strictly adhere to the provisions of control over the Egyptian agricultural exports to produce high quality export crops, with exclusive reliance on entities affiliated with the coding system by the agricultural quarantine.

He also gave directives to address any violation in this context and to apply the standards of importing countries for all the Egyptian agricultural crops.

The meeting also touched on efforts to develop livestock, through the national program for distributing thousands of heads of highly productive livestock to farmers.

The main objective is to improve the conditions of the farmers and support them economically, in coordination among the relevant ministries, the National Service Projects Authority, the banking sector and civil society organizations.

The President stressed the importance of following-up on the conditions of farmers and small breeders on a regular basis and providing them with the necessary technical support and veterinary care for livestock, also intensifying the guiding role for all beneficiaries of the national livestock distribution program.

Source: State Information Service Egypt

HE Sheikh Abdullah al Salmi, Executive President of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), stressed that the Royal Directive to cessate the application of withholding tax on stock dividends and income of fixed instruments (sukuk and bonds) owned by foreign investors is an affirmation of the attention and care that His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq – may God protect and preserve him – and his government attach to the need to provide all factors that will enhance the investment environment in the Sultanate of Oman and make Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) an attractive investment destination for foreign capital. This in turn will boost trading in the MSX, enhance its capitalization value, and boost the role of the capital market as a tool for financing economic projects as part of the efforts to achieve Oman’s vision 2040.

In a statement to local media, HE Al Salmi expressed the importance of these Royal Orders that stipulate the suspension of the withholding tax permanently with immediate effect, where appropriate legislative amendments are to be effected in due course. Such amendments shall ensure the exclusion dividends and income from bonds and sukuk from the scope of this tax. This would enhance the confidence of foreign investors in the investment climate in the country, and reassure them that this tax will not be applied to their investments in the capital market in the Sultanate of Oman.

The Executive President of the CMA pointed out that Royal Directive to permanently abolish this tax on foreign investors are consistent with the national priorities directing the executive plans of government agencies, which focus on attracting capital and encouraging investment. They also give the capital market in the Sultanate of Oman a competitive advantage to attract direct and indirect foreign investments to the Sultanate of Oman. This is of strategic importance in light of the intense competition in the region and the world to attract capital, and give investors the opportunity to evaluate available investment opportunities based on clear data and objective criteria. It will also answer a lot of questions or concerns that have been pondered upon by investors about the fate of this tax. At the same time, it will support the CMA’s executive strategy to make the capital market a key and effective enabler for providing the necessary financing to achieve the objectives of Oman’s Vision 2040.

It is worth noting that the Sultanate of Oman imposed a (10%) withholding tax on dividends and income from sukuk and bonds in 2017, as part of the Income Tax Law amendments. Although the aforementioned tax was suspended for a period of three years, starting from 6/5/2019, which was later extended to 2025 as part of the economic stimulus plan approved by the Council of Ministers, its existence in the law was a source of concern for several investors .

Therefore, the Royal Orders to abolish this tax on foreign investors once and for all, in light of the intense competition that the region is witnessing in attracting capital, presents a golden opportunity to attract more foreign investments to the Sultanate of Oman.

Source: Capital Market Authority