Between Ras El Hekma and Alam El Roum on the North Coast, and Ras Shukeir along the Red Sea, investments pouring in from the GCC are considered a lifeline for Egypt’s economy. 

But beyond the headlines, an intricate relationship is forming between Egypt and its Gulf neighbors, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia. And it got some of us wondering: is it all competition, or is there more to the story?

Mashreq Group CEO Ahmed Abdelaal is a regional banking powerhouse, and he argues that each of these three countries has a unique offering; to him, it’s not a race of who’s bigger or better, but rather a collaboration.

Abdelaal joins EnterpriseAM's Editor-in-Chief Patrick FitzPatrick to expand on an older conversation they had about that exact dynamic, or what he calls “the three elephants in the room.” They also talk about Egypt’s unique position vis-a-vis the South-South corridor, the importance of building sustainable frameworks of communication around foreign investment, and, of course, AI. 

Forum Playback is an eight-part series capturing the conversations we hosted as part of our annual EnterpriseAM Forum.

A big thank you to our sponsors: Banque Du Caire, Beltone, Banque Misr, HSBC, Mashreq, Post for Investment, Arkan Palm, Global Corp, MNT-Halan, Sodic, CI Capital, BCG, and Baker McKenzie. 

For additional coverage from the forum, go to: https://enterprise.news/egypt/en/archive/list/1/16/forum-2025/0/0/25/1 

The full forum agenda is available on: https://egyptforum2025.enterprise.news/

To listen to Patrick and Abdeaal’s full conversation from last March, search for Making It wherever you’re listening right now, or visit: https://omny.fm/shows/making-it/building-an-innovative-bank-and-how-to-lead-it-wit

To learn how you can advertise with EnterpriseAM, get in touch with Moustafa Taalab: [email protected]

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