Reuters DUBAI: Mashreqbank, Dubai s third-largest lender by market value, said on Wednesday it got central bank approval to open branches in Egypt and ruled out bid interest in Alwatany Bank of Egypt. We have approval from the Egyptian and Emirati central banks to open 10 branches in Egypt, Saad Hakim, a spokesman for Mashreqbank, …

CAIRO: Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohammed Rachid and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa will attend the 11th International Economic Forum in Saint-Petersburg on June 8-10, said Alexander Esyutin, head of the Russian trade representation mission in Cairo. During the visit, Rachid will meet with Minister of Economic Development and Trade G. Gref …

ASWAN: The Indo-Egyptian Fertilizers Company SAE (IEFC) signed a loan agreement worth $250 million with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank group, at the Cataract Hotel in Aswan Wednesday. The loan will go towards financing the establishment of a phosphoric acid plant at Edfu, in the Aswan Governorate, which should be up and …

CAIRO: Egyptian shares rose on Thursday, with foreign buying in market heavyweights Orascom Telecom and Orascom Construction Industries pushing up the indexes, traders said. The Orascoms were all performing very well today, due to foreign interest, said Mohamed Ezz of Delta Securities. Orascom Construction Industries, which on Thursday reported a 53.5 percent rise in its …

CAIRO: Addressing the country’s most influential business leaders present at the American Chamber of Commerce board elections, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif gave an enticing recipe for growth with competitiveness, innovation and social responsibility at the heart of its main ingredients. “On the economic front, we continue to do well. . Our economy is surprising us …

CAIRO: In a tight race, Omar Mohanna, chairman of the Suez Cement Company, won the election and was declared the new president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt last Wednesday. Three candidates ran for the post. However, the third contestant dropped out of the race, trimming competition between Hamed Fahmy, from Allied Corporation …

CAIRO: Egypt s Orascom Telecom plans to buy 37.7 million of its own shares in the coming month, the company said in statement on the Egyptian bourse Web site on Tuesday. The statement did not give a reason for the purchase, which would cost about LE 2.8 billion ($492 million) at the current share price. …

Within context of the NTRA regulation to the market and its support to the principles of transparency and non-discrimination between competing companies, Etisalat Misr; the most recent mobile operator in the market, signed an interconnection agreement with each of Mobinil and Vodafone Egypt on Monday, May 7 at the NTRA headquarter in the Smart Village. …

CAIRO: A delegation from the Kazakh Ministry of Transportation and the Civil Aviation Authority will visit Egypt next week to mull possibilities of running direct flights between Cairo and Astana, said Kazakh Ambassador in Cairo Baghdad Amreyev. Amreyev was speaking to a high-level delegation from the Kazakh government and a group of Egyptian businessmen working …

DUBAI: It was only a matter of time before the city of over a 1,000 skyscrapers hosted the world’s tallest building: Burj Dubai. Dubbed Emaar’s iconic tower, Burj Dubai features a combination of residential and office space as well as Giorgio Armani’s first branded hotel in the region. Over 700 meters high, the number of …

Peruvian vice minister talks to The Daily Star Egypt about trade and regional affairs CAIRO: The Peruvian Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gonzalo Gutierrez Reinel, visited Cairo May 27-29 as part of a tour of North Africa and the Middle East, which includes Algeria and Israel. The Vice Minister was in Cairo to discuss bilateral …

CAIRO: The Ahli United Bank Group celebrated the acquisition of Delta International Bank, one of Egypt s leading private banks in a press conference held at the Four Seasons Garden City, Monday. Reviewing its progress over the past decade, the Ahli United Bank Group promised to create an unrivalled ability to meet Egyptian customers needs. …

DUBAI: Egypt has asked five Greek and Middle Eastern banks to conduct due diligence on Alwatany Bank of Egypt and offer to take over the lender, Dubai-based Al-Bayan daily said on Monday. National Bank of Kuwait, Dubai-based Mashreqbank, National Bank of Greece, Jordan s Arab Bank and EFG Eurobank are on the Egyptian central bank …

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian power and gaming group Tanjong Plc agreed on Monday to buy control of another seven power plants in Egypt and Asia for $493 million. Tanjong said its 55-percent-owned unit, Pendekar Energy Ltd, would buy the assets from Britain s CDC Group for cash. Tanjong s share of the purchase price would amount …

CAIRO: Egypt s benchmark Hermes stock index jumped to its highest close in more than 15 months on Sunday as surging markets in the United Arab Emirates boosted confidence among foreign investors, traders said. The Hermes index rose 0.8 percent to 68,274.93 points, its highest since February 2006. The well-watched Case 30 index gained 0.8 …

OUAGADOUGOU: Burkina Faso has postponed until 2009 the start of genetically modified cotton production, a controversial process that the country s authorities say is necessary to compete. We cannot produce the cotton this year on a large-scale, but certainly by 2009, after we have increased the number of transgenic seeds sufficient in quality and quantity …

CAIRO: A delegation of businessmen, headed by Ali Moussa, head of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, will soon head to Serbia, said Serbian Ambassador in Cairo Dejan Vasiljevic. “Mr Moussa is preparing to take a business community delegation from here to Serbia, Vasiljevic said. Egyptian businessmen are interested in exporting biodiesel fuel and rubber belts …

Market shares rose on Thursday as a rally in the real estate sector resumed on rumors that more land auctions are imminent, brokers said. Heliopolis Housing and Medinet Nasr Housing were the main beneficiaries, both gaining 8.8 percent and last trading at LE 549 ($96.49) and LE 336. One broker cited a report that the …

CAIRO: Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia gave a demonstration of its latest Nseries handsets Wednesday, the day after its Enterprise Solutions division signed a distribution agreement with Egyptian firm Silicon 21. The agreement gives Silicon 21 – a shareholding company providing technical and logistical support to clients in the Middle East and North Africa – …

CAIRO: Gone are the days of conventional TV sets or videos cluttering the living room. People living in Egypt can now walk into a room, hit a button, and instantly be swept up in music or films that originate in a remote closet or even basement in its sleek black-box design. With Archimedia’s launch in …

DOHA: Corecap, the regional investment and advisory firm specialized in alternative investments, announced today the launch of its first $150 million Corecap Islamic private equity Fund I (Cipef I). Cipef I will fund Sharia compliant Private Equity investments in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region via equity participation and via a unique Sharia …

Egypt is poised to become the India of the Middle East as it seeks to ramp up its share of the global outsourcing market, experts predict, according to reports by IT Week. Yankee Group noted that more multinational companies are using IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing as tools to transform their organizations into global …

CAIRO: EFG-Hermes, Egypt s largest investment bank, said on Wednesday it would enter the Qatari market in a joint venture with an unnamed local Qatar company with start-up capital of $37 million. A statement from the firm said EFG-Hermes Qatar Limited, which would offer investment banking and asset management services, would be 51 percent owned …

CAIRO: In a statement by the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges, the Sixth of October Development and Investment Company (Sodic) made a net profit of LE 50.52 million ($8.88 million) in the first quarter of 2007 – after a net loss of LE 2.1 million in the same quarter last year. According to HC Brokerage, …

Investment bank Morgan Stanley said on Wednesday it plans to open an office in the Egyptian capital Cairo after it obtains regulatory approvals. As we continue to grow our business in the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt is an increasingly important market for Morgan Stanley, Georges Makhoul, president for the Middle East and North …

Egypt s oil exports will hit as much as $12 billion in the coming year, said Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy on Monday during his speech at a labor rally in the Gulf of Suez city, reported the State Information Service (SIS). Fahmy was reported to have said that the country’s oil output is also …

The national economy grew 7.4 percent in the January-March quarter, the third quarter of the 2006/7 financial year, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said on Tuesday. He was quoted by the state news agency Mena. The growth rate compares with 7.2 percent in the first half of the year and suggests that the Egyptian government will …

The Egyptian unit of Emirates Telecommunications Corp. said on Monday it planned to invest up to LE 8 billion ($1.41 billion) over the next three years on its network to boost coverage area. Etisalat Egypt, which started operations on May 1, also plans to sell shares in an initial public offering in 2009, Chief Executive …