Energy-rich Qatar will work towards increasing investment in Egypt, the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim, told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Wednesday.
An Egyptian presidential statement by spokesman Bassam Radi said the Qatari ruler's pledge came during talks in Doha with Mr El Sisi, who is on the second day of a landmark two-day visit to the Gulf Arab nation.
The visit, the first by the Egyptian leader since taking office eight years ago, seals a reconciliation between the two nations after a four-year rift ended in 2021.
"He [Sheikh Tamim] emphasised Qatar's resolve to bolster bilateral relations in all fields going forward through increasing Qatari investments in Egypt and taking advantage of available business opportunities there," Mr Radi said without giving details.
Sheikh Tamim's office, however, said Qatar and Egypt signed several agreements, including one between the Qatar Investment Authority and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt for investment and development.
Also signed were deals on "co-operation in the field of ports" and "co-operation in the field of social affairs", according to the official website of the emir's office.
It said Mr El Sisi and Sheikh Tamim discussed co-operation on investment, transport and social affairs.
The Egyptian leader's visit to Qatar comes at a time when Cairo is struggling to keep its economy afloat during a crisis mainly caused by the damaging fall-out from the Russia-Ukraine war and the coronavirus pandemic before it.
Egypt is currently negotiating with the IMF over structural economic reform and a possible loan from the Washington-based lender to shore up its economy, hit hard by a steeply higher import bill, slumping tourism revenues and a flight of foreign investments in its once-lucrative debt market.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr El Sisi met Qatar's business leaders. Egypt was keen on expanding economic and business relations with Qatar, Mr El Sisi told the meeting, according to his spokesman.
Sheikh Tamim visited Egypt in June when his nation’s investments in the most populous Arab nation were high on the agenda of talks he held with Mr El Sisi.
Co-operation in the energy and agriculture sectors was also discussed.
In March, Cairo said Qatar planned to invest $5 billion in Egypt.
Seperatly on Wednesday, Egyptian authorities released Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Al Nagdy from detention.
Meanwhile, QatarEnergy announced an agreement with US company ExxonMobil to acquire a 40 per cent stake in a gas exploration block off Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.
In June, Egypt's finance ministry said Qatar had made $3bn of deposits in Egypt's central bank three months earlier. It said that an additional $2bn to $3bn of investments were under discussion.
That was on top of deposits of $5bn from Saudi Arabia and $3bn from the UAE to Egypt's central bank in February and March this year, the ministry said.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia also made recent investments in Egypt through their sovereign wealth funds.
In 2017 Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain severed diplomatic ties with Doha. This was over Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its soft line on Iran.
The dispute was resolved and relations were restored in January last year.
Relations between Egypt and Qatar have traditionally been close, with their business ties surviving the recent rift nearly unscathed.
Qatar is home to tens of thousands of Egyptians who work there. They sent home $1.5 billion in the financial year 2020-2021, a 14.3 per cent increase over the previous year, according to Egypt’s state statistics bureau.
Qatar’s invested $507.9 million in Egypt in the financial year 2020-2021, the latest year for which figures are available.
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Australia tour of Pakistan
March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi
March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi
March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore
March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi
March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi
April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi
April 5: T20I, Rawalpindi
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Ways to control drones
Countries have been coming up with ways to restrict and monitor the use of non-commercial drones to keep them from trespassing on controlled areas such as airports.
"Drones vary in size and some can be as big as a small city car - so imagine the impact of one hitting an airplane. It's a huge risk, especially when commercial airliners are not designed to make or take sudden evasive manoeuvres like drones can" says Saj Ahmed, chief analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research.
New measures have now been taken to monitor drone activity, Geo-fencing technology is one.
It's a method designed to prevent drones from drifting into banned areas. The technology uses GPS location signals to stop its machines flying close to airports and other restricted zones.
The European commission has recently announced a blueprint to make drone use in low-level airspace safe, secure and environmentally friendly. This process is called “U-Space” – it covers altitudes of up to 150 metres. It is also noteworthy that that UK Civil Aviation Authority recommends drones to be flown at no higher than 400ft. “U-Space” technology will be governed by a system similar to air traffic control management, which will be automated using tools like geo-fencing.
The UAE has drawn serious measures to ensure users register their devices under strict new laws. Authorities have urged that users must obtain approval in advance before flying the drones, non registered drone use in Dubai will result in a fine of up to twenty thousand dirhams under a new resolution approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.
Mr Ahmad suggest that "Hefty fines running into hundreds of thousands of dollars need to compensate for the cost of airport disruption and flight diversions to lengthy jail spells, confiscation of travel rights and use of drones for a lengthy period" must be enforced in order to reduce airport intrusion.
