The Egyptian Cabinet approved on Wednesday 13 draft agreements between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, and a number of international companies. Under the deals, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation will be responsible for oil exploration in areas west of Wadi Natrun, east of Siwa, west of Magharra, west of Abu Gharadiq, east of Alam Saweesh, and in the Gulf of Suez, according to the Cabinet. The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company will be in charge of natural gas and crude oil exploration in the Mediterranean Sea areas, including north of Fayrouz and Rafah, Tiba, and Tabiya as well as northeast of Arish and Bellatrix City East. In another context, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in a press conference after the Cabinet meeting that the government granted weeks ago nine licenses for various projects. This falls under the directives of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to encourage the private sector’s role and increase its contribution to economic growth. Madbouly showcases a sample of the golden license, which comes in the form of a “smart card” with a “QR Code” so that all license-related data are accessible through it. The PM pointed out that the Cabinet is expanding during its meetings the scope of activities that can be covered under the golden license. Madbouly called on project owners to submit their requests for golden licenses to the supreme committee, which is supervised by the prime minister and convenes regularly to issue the licenses. Egypt is set to announce next week a detailed plan to offer stakes of at least 20 state companies over the course of 2023, Madbouly added. An Egyptian plan to sell stakes in public companies, first announced more than five years ago, has gained new urgency since the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered heavy foreign investment outflows from Egyptian financial markets and threw the economy into crisis.