Drone strike at Damietta + Egypt receives its second EUR 1.5 bn EU tranche

☀️ Good morning, friends, and happy weekend.

But first, your weekly recap…

🗞️ LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS

Two vessels caught fire after a drone strike at Damietta Port on Wednesday, the cabinet confirmed in an updated statement on Thursday. The Oil Ministry’s initial statement had confirmed the fire but made no mention of its cause regasification vessel and a storage vessel

MEANWHILE- Egypt’s petroleum product exports surpassed 2.3 mn tons in 1H 2026, matching 2025’s full-year figure

AND- Aramco is turning to Egypt as traditional Red Sea routes face renewed risk.

ALSO- Two partners in Israel’s Tamar gas field signed a non-binding MoU

The European Commission disbursed EUR 1.5 bn to Egypt last week

Egyptian goods covered by the Section 301 investigation entering the US now face a 12.5% tariff

Mortgage finance companies can now pool funding for the same high-value property purchase

Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling Company will introduce four new container charges and raise a fifth starting 1 September.

Real estate developer SODIC reported a 201% y-o-y increase in gross contracted sales to EGP 23.5 bn during the first half of 2026.

The Egypt Forum is back — and this year, we’re giving the full day to the one question on every business leader's mind: What does AI actually mean for your company, your people, and your own job?

Leaders in New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore are asking the same things, and nobody has built a playbook that works yet. We're all figuring it out in real time — and for Egypt, the stakes are unusually high.

Egypt could leapfrog a generation on the back of this technology — or watch AI hollow out the industries and jobs we can't afford to lose. The leaders who get literate early will be the ones who get to decide which road we take.

Every session on stage answers one question: “So, what do I actually do about it?”

Join us on 5 October in Cairo. Seats are limited and attendance is by invitation only.

Request your invitation here.

🌍 AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS

This week’s headlines were dominated by a brief pause in the US-Iran war, which raised hopes of a diplomatic off-ramp

After 13 consecutive nights of US strikes reciprocated good talks launched an attempted surprise attack

Iran renewed missile attacks on US forces in the early hours of Thursday

The week added a new front to an already sprawling conflict: confirmed it struck an Iranian vessel White House on Tuesday

MEANWHILE- Wildfires have displaced more than 300k people

IN THE BUSINESS PRESS- Blackstone, KKR, and Brookfield semiconductor sell-off deepened acquired rival CBIZ for USD 5 bn

Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT debuted on the Shanghai exchange, with shares jumping 472% after raising CNY 66.6 bn Shein’s planned Hong Kong listing hit turbulence

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☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND

It’s another intensely hot weekend

🎤 HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND

No Sahel plans this weekend? Reda El Bahrawy Rahma Mohsen Ahmed Sheba TicketsMarché

Sharmoofers are joining this summer’s Sahel concert lineup, performing at this year’s Localine TicketsMarché

Staying in Cairo? interactive play TicketsMarch é