Business specialists convene A COMMITTEE of 15 prominent business experts formed by President Mohamed Mursi to improve the business climate is to hold its first meeting next week. The committee, composed of businessmen representing various sectors of the economy, will look into resolving many outstanding hurdles to business in Egypt, including settling contracts in disputed land deals under the former regime. It will also look into the status of privatised companies. The committee is expected to play a major role in writing laws that concern the business sector. It will also look into problems related to labour strikes, including that of the workers of Cleopatra Ceramics. It will also seek to settle all disputes between the government and foreign investors. Ghazl Al-Mahalla on strike AROUND 25,000 workers of Ghazl Al-Mahalla, Egypt's largest textile spinning and weaving company, commenced an open strike this week, bringing production to a halt. The workers are calling for an increase in wages and bonuses and demanding the sacking of corrupt management. The workers of the state-owned company said their strike would continue until their demands are met. Labour dispute escalates THE DISPUTE between Cleopatra Ceramics workers and the company's chairman, Mohamed Abul-Enein, has soared. On Tuesday clashes errupted between workers and police as the former gathered outside government offices in the Suez governorate. Workers reportedly hurled stones at the building of the Suez Security Directorate and raided the Local Administration office. Police used the tear gas to disperse the gathering. Prior to the clashes workers at the Ain Al-Sokhna factory had filed two lawsuits against Abul-Enein. Cleopatra Ceramics workers demonstrated for the past two weeks against delays in the disbursal of salaries and profit shares, but agreed to end their demonstrations when Abul-Enein pledged to pay their financial dues. Abul-Enein promised to pay workers their profit share last Thursday. However, they received nothing. Moreover, Abul-Enein shut down the factories of Suez and 10 Ramadan and stopped complementary transport services that took employees between their homes and company premises. According to Fathi Yassin, secretary-general of the Factory Workers' Syndicate in Suez, workers filed the lawsuits to urge Abul-Enein to pay them their profit shares and to honour his part of an agreement signed with labour representatives in March. He added that Abul-Enein refused to meet with labour representatives in order to resolve the issue. Instead, Yassin said, he announced that he would lay off 2,000 workers from the Suez and 10 Ramadan factories. Abul-Enein claims that they are excess to current needs. Moreover, Abul-Enein said that he would not disburse July's salaries because both factories stopped operating. In consequence, Yassin said, workers would renew their demonstrations. Vendors, watch out THE GOVERNMENT has decided to come down hard on street vendors. This week, Minister of Local Development Mohamed Attia speaking at a press conference said the government has decided to revive a 1957 law that regulates street vending, adding that street vendors have burgeoned out of control due to the lack of security. Law 23/1957 stipulates that a licence must be acquired to become a street vendor. It also says that individuals below 12 years of age can not acquire a licence, nor can anyone carrying a contagious disease or who has been convicted of theft or thuggery. Attia added that the law also stipulates that the authorities provide certain areas for street vending where only a certain number of vendors will be allowed. Street vendors are not allowed to set up stalls outside these locations. It further states that street vendors are not allowed on public transportation, nor are they allowed to sell their goods next to regular shops selling similar merchandise. According to Attia, infraction of the law could lead to imprisonment for up to three months and a fine of up to LE1,000. Real estate tax in January EGYPT's new real estate tax is to go into effect starting January 2013, said Finance Minister Momtaz El-Said this week. The heavily criticised law was originally issued under the regime of Hosni Mubarak. According to El-Said, the law has been amended to overcome many of the problems of the original draft. After modification, the law exempts a person's home from the tax. It also states that 25 per cent of the tax receipts will be routed to developing slum areas. El-Said estimates that the total annual revenue of the tax will reach LE2 billion. Tourism up ACCORDING to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), the number of tourists who visited Egypt increased by over 19 per cent in May 2012. Egypt received 846,000 tourists during May 2012 compared to 709,000 in May 2011. The figures remain below pre-revolution levels. Tourist arrivals in May 2010 reached 1.2 million. Spinning and weaving solutions THE MINISTRY of Trade and Industry (MTI) has concluded a study tackling the problems of the spinning and weaving industry in Egypt and offering proposals on how the industry can enhance its competitiveness. Among the main issues tackled by the study is the provision of raw materials necessary for weaving, especially cotton and polyester fibres. The study underlined the need to coordinate between the ministries of agriculture and industry to establish agricultural policies that meet the needs of the industrial sector. Such agricultural policies should encourage the cultivation of short and medium staple cotton while guarding the cultivation of long staple cotton so as to balance between local production needs and export needs. The study also called for the creation of a higher council for cotton to increase cooperation between cotton producers and industrial consumers. The study also stressed the need to encourage investment in the production of polyester fibres to insure the supply of much needed production inputs. EU supports Alexandria projects THE EU will support five development projects in Alexandria at a total of LE180 million. The projects are to be carried out by the Chamber of Industries in Alexandria, the Federation of European Chambers, the German Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce in cooperation with relevant authorities in Italy, Spain, France, Greece and Portugal. The projects will be in the area of tourism, food production, solar energy and garbage treatment. BP finds gas BRITISH Petroleum (BP) has begun production in the Seth field, located 60 kilometres offshore in the Ras Al-Barr concession in the East Nile Delta. Seth is being developed with a six well slot. The first two wells accessing the western part of the Seth reservoir are expected to reach 170 million standard cubic feet per day and develop about 240 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas. "Seth is yet another example of BP's 50 years of commitment to Egypt and longstanding partnership with the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, �EGPC [Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation], and �EGAS [Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company]. We look forward to continuing to play a key role in the development of Egypt's energy sector in order to help meet Egypt's growing energy demands for years to come," said Hisham Mekkawi, regional president of BP Egypt, in a press release. FDI down FOREIGN direct investment (FDI) in Africa declined for the third consecutive year to $42.7 billion in 2011, according to the World Investment Report 2012 issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The report showed that the decline in FDI inflows in 2011 was caused largely by protracted political instability in North Africa -- in particular Egypt and Libya, which had been major recipients of FDI in the past. In contrast, inflows to sub-Saharan Africa recovered from $29 billion in 2010 to $37 billion in 2011, a level comparable with the peak in 2008. A rebound of FDI to South Africa accentuated the recovery. The continuing rise in commodity prices and a relatively positive economic outlook for sub-Saharan Africa are among the factors contributing to the turnaround, noted the report.
