Contact CreditTech, the digital consumer financing arm of Contact Financial Holding, and Telda have announced a new partnership to offer a unique Lending-as-a-Service (LaaS) solution to all Telda customers. The LaaS solution will enable Telda users to apply and instantly obtain a credit limit provided by Contact to finance their purchases made with Telda. “We are excited to partner with Telda to offer this innovative LaaS solution to their customers,” said Ahmed Samir Kamel, Managing Director for Contact CrediTech. “Our LaaS solution is the only one of its kind in the market, and it allows us to ensure the inclusion of the widest customer base across all segments. Through our partnership with Telda, we are able to offer our unique LaaS solution to a wider audience and help them to achieve their financial goals.

CAIRO – 10 July 2023: Minister of Transport Kamel al-Wazir stated in a phone-in Sunday that the "Egyptian Railway Station" located in Giza's Bashtil will be inaugurated in a month and a half. The minister noted that the station spans over 57 feddans (one feddan equals 4,500 square meters), while the one in Cairo's Ramses Street lies on just 13 feddans. The chairman of the Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA) told press in 2020 that Bashtil Train Station was planned to serve citizens moving to and from Upper Egyptian governorates. He added that the goal of its establishing was alleviating the load on Ramses Train Station. The LE350-million station comprises five tracks and platforms, in addition to a complex of workshops that would carry out the maintenance of railcars and train engines.

Egyptian venture capital firms A15, Acasia Ventures, and prominent angels have completed an investment in Cairo-based digital savings platform Menthum, joining a pre-seed round. Traditional money market funds are usually highly inaccessible to Egyptians due to the friction associated with the traditional channels. Menthum re-invented the money market fund with its technology and innovative process flow, making it simple and accessible for all. Individuals sign up on the Menthum mobile app using their mobile number and scanning their National ID, the app fetches the ID data automatically. The customers can add money to their Menthum account by transferring money from their account from any bank in Egypt.

CAIRO – 10 July 2023: To stop import in the future, Egypt is currently establishing seven factories operating in the locomotive industry in partnership with the private sector, Minister of Transport Kamel al-Wazir stated in a phone-in Sunday. One would be dedicated to the production of electrical systems and railway components such as signals, panels, electrical circuits for control, and electrical braids among others. The other would manufacture all types of mobile units of metro lines, trams, LRT, monorail, express trains and others. TalgoIn March, Minister Wazir attended the signing of a cooperation protocol between the Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA) and Talgo for the company to build a factory in Egypt for the production of railcars. The minister added, during the phone-in, that two private companies would manage freight transport in Egypt to ensure efficiency and profitability, and that the Egyptian Railway Authority would acquire at least ten percent of revenues.

The number of Egyptian expatriates who registered to attend the fourth edition of the Egyptian Expatriates Conference, scheduled to be held on July 31, included 1,000 people from more than 56 countries around the world, Immigration Minister Soha Gendi announced. This number includes representatives of 66 associations or communities for Egyptian expatriates. The topics were identified based on constant communication with Egyptian expatriates, through weekly virtual meetings under the “An Hour with the Minister” initiative. Bolstering educationThe second session, which addresses politics and education, discusses the importance of the participation of Egyptian expatriates in national dialogue. Achieving social solidarityAccording to the Minister of Immigration, the third session targets social and service areas, discussing ways to coordinate with the Ministry of Social Solidarity regarding the establishment of the Egyptian Expatriates Fund, striving to achieve solidarity among Egyptian expatriates.

This came while chairing a meeting with board of directors of the GEM authority that was held at the new headquarters of the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry in the New Administrative Capital. He also lauded their commitment to the schedule to finalize all works by the end of next September ahead of its inauguration. The minister also greeted GEM board and authority over the success of the current phase of limited tours in the museum. While General Supervisor of the GEM Project Atef Moftah commended the great achievements made by the ministry in the past period in the tourism and antiquities arenas.

Royal Developments is set to deliver its Capital Prime Business Park in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) later this month, as revealed by Chairperson Sherif Shaalan. Shaalan told Daily News Egypt that the entire operation of the project would ensue within nine months. The company has enlisted Makanak Real Estate to manage the Capital Prime administrative building and Prime Hospitality for the project’s branded residences. Capital Prime, occupying a 6,000 sqm area with an 11,000 sqm gross sale area, features a six-story building housing serviced apartments, serviced offices, and commercial and medical units. The company has recorded EGP 530m in sales from the Capital Prime project and it is set to retain part of commercial and administrative units for lease.

Ayman ElKousey, MIDAR Managing Director and CEO, said that this step is a continuation of the major successes achieved by the company over the past period, as one of the first companies that applied the concept of the master developer“cities developer”, which prompted New Cairo area to become a point of attraction for leading real estate developers in Egypt and abroad with their different specializations. He affirmed that the company's broad activities and its achievement of major growth rates were the nucleus to build on what was accomplished in this domain. He revealed that MIDAR obtained the required security approvals for establishing the first police station at Mostakbal City, providing a firing platform, and rapid intervention vehicle, promoting security system and civil protection besides educational, medical, commercial, administrative, entertainment, international hotels facilities, banking services, gasoline stations, and other vital facilities. It has contracts with Hassan Allam Properties, Tatweer Misr, Al-Ahly Sabbour for Real Estate Development, Misr Italia, Arab Developers Holding, Wadi Degla Developments, Maxim for Investment, and Arab Contractors, with the objective of developing residential projects of areas surpassing 100 feddan. The city also embraces other residential projects that are implemented in an area of not less than 100 feddan that are developed by Ardic Developments, Beta Egypt for Urban Development, Grand Plaza for Real Estate and Tourism Investment, and Housing and Development Properties, affiliated to the Housing and Development Bank.

Egypt will host a summit of Sudan’s neighbouring countries this week, to discuss ways to end the current conflict and its negative repercussions on neighbouring countries, according to a statement by the official spokesperson of the Egyptian presidency on Saturday. The summit, which is expected to be held on Thursday 13 July, aims to reach effective mechanisms with the participation of neighboring countries, to settle the crisis in Sudan peacefully, in coordination with other regional and international tracks to resolve the crisis. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) accused the Sudanese army of carrying out the raid. On Friday, the Sudanese army launched heavy air raids in various parts, concentrated north of Khartoum in the vicinity of Jisr al-Halfaya and Jisr Shambat, and the neighbourhoods of Maamoura and Arkuit in eastern Khartoum. In the meantime, the Saudi-US mediation efforts are ongoing to bring the war rivals to the dialogue table in order to fulfil the obligations they made to reach a ceasefire.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has said that 45 villages in Menoufeya have been connected with optical fiber cables, out of a total of 81 villages in the governorate. During his visit to Menoufeya, the Minister of Communications visited the Digital Egypt Creativity Center “Creativa”, which was established by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology at Menoufeya University. Through this center, students can be properly equipped for the local and global labor market in information technology. He pointed out that the goal of establishing the Egypt Creativity Center at Menoufeya University is to create communication and networking between students, graduates, and university professors. Heba Saleh, Head of the Information Technology Institute (ITI), highlighted the institute’s activities within the Menoufeya Digital Egypt Creativity Center and the training programs it provides to the people of the governorate.

The trains' model is Desiro HC and produced by Siemens Mobility. The model has a speed of 160 kilometers per hour, and will be operated on the four lines of the project. The manufacturing by Siemens began in November 2022, as the deal provides that the delivery would start by the end of 2024. The company will be supplying 175 trains, divided into 41 passenger trains whose speed is 250 kilometers per hour; 94 passenger trains whose speed is 200 kilometers per hour; and, 120 freight trains whose speed is 120 kilometers per hour. The construction of some of the first phase's stations, such as those of Ain Sokhna, New Alamain, and Matrouh, is over.

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) and the Agricultural Bank of Egypt (ABE) have signed a new financing contract worth EGP 60m, within the framework of the Egyptian Family Development Initiative “Bab Rizq”, funded by the French Development Agency’s (AFD) “Supporting Women to Finance Micro Enterprises” initiative. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, said that the Egyptian Family Development Initiative aims primarily to improve population and control its growth rates, in order to help the Egyptian society benefit from the fruits of development. Alaa Farouk, Chairperson of the Agricultural Bank of Egypt, affirmed the bank’s keenness on directing all efforts to achieve rural development, in implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and the goals of the presidential initiative “Decent Life”. It was launched by ABE be a financing source for rural women and breadwinners in rural villages. Bab Rizq has so far succeeded in providing financing to about 44,521 customers in all governorates, at a value of more than EGP 463.8m.

CAIRO - 9 July 2023: Egypt will host a summit for Sudan neighbors on Thursday to discuss means of ending the current crisis in Sudan and its negative repercussions on the war-torn country, in addition to outlining a mechanism for involving the neighboring countries in working out a peaceful settlement, said Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy. The summit will be held in coordination with regional and international partners to work out solutions for the crisis, he explained. Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy asserted that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi was keen on formulating a common vision for Sudan's direct neighbors with the aim of taking steps to settle the crisis, stem the peoples' bloodshed along with avoiding the negative impact of the crisis on stability and security of neighboring states and maintaining Sudan's territorial integrity

CAIRO - 9 July 2023: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Sunday witnessed a swearing-in ceremony of Counselor Hosni Hassan Abdel Latif Abu Zeid as President of the Court of Cassation, Counselor Hafez Ahmed Abbas Mohamed as Head of the Administrative Prosecution Authority and Counselor Mosaad Abdel Maqsoud Bayoumi as Head of the Egyptian State Lawsuits Authority. During the ceremony, the president stressed the important role played by those esteemed judicial bodies in establishing justice and upholding the rule of law, said Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmi. President Sisi bestowed the Order of the Republic of the first class on judge Mohamed Eid Mohamed Mahjoub, the former president of the Court of Cassation, counselor Adly Abdel Fattah Zayed, the former head of the Administrative Prosecution Authority, and counselor Mohamed Mohamed Bakr, the former head of the State Lawsuits Authority. The president expressed sincere appreciation of the great efforts made by the former judges throughout their long career in judicial work.

Dessil Mekhtigian's FROM THE WORK OF THE DEVIL is scheduled to screen at the Yerevan International Film Festival's 20th edition — which will be running from July 9th to the 16th — where it will be competing in its Apricot Stone Section. In a statement, Dessil Mekhtigian expressed her pride and gratitude for the selection of her latest work to compete for a Golden Apricot. Mekhtigian, who has Armenian roots, described the film as a personal journey that brought her back to her home country for the first time. “I am very proud and touched that my film is in competition at a festival in my motherland," Mekhtigian said. "This film was made in search of my roots and I am overwhelmed with joy for the chance to go back to my home country for the first time.”Produced by Karim Mekhtigian, FROM THE WORK OF THE DEVIL stars Dessil Mekhtigian, Ali El-Sabh, Maria Saba, and Lala Shamamian.