Egypt s banks have funded trade finance transactions worth $70.8 billion since the Egyptian pound was floated in November 2016, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced Wednesday. By the end of February 2017, the banking system had funded $21 billion in trade finance transactions since the EGP float.

Egypt s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar told MPs on Monday that with the help of Japan and China, Egypt will be able to launch its first satellite for scientific research in July 2018, meanwhile the House of Representatives approved in a following session a law to establish Egypt s first space agency. Abdel-Ghaffar revealed that 70 percent of the components of Egypt s first satellite will be manufactured locally. “The manufacturing will come in cooperation with China and is expected to be complete in the year 2020,” added Abdel-Ghaffar. Abdel-Ghaffar, who showed MPs a photo and maquette of Egypt s first satellite, said that “the dream has come true, and Egypt is about to join the world s space club in just one year.”

Egyptian writer and renowned leftist journalist Salah Eissa died on Monday at the age of 78 after a struggle with illness. Eissa, dubbed the "storyteller," was one of Egypt s most well-known journalists, documenting the lives of many historical figures, celebrities and Egypt s most notorious serial killers Raya and Sakina. Eissa, born on 4 October 1939 in Daqahliya governorate, was known for being a leftist activist, journalist and historian.

Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry is set to arrive in Ethiopia on Tuesday for talks with his Ethiopian counterpart Workneh Gebeyehu to "break the deadlock" regarding the work of the tripartite technical committee of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, which is studying the effects of construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on downstream countries. The committee will be seeking to reach consensus on ways to avoid harm to all three parties.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has hailed Egypt s economic reforms, which it said have curbed inflation levels, while calling for further reforms, including to energy subsidies. The fund s remarks came as it approved the second review of Egypt s reform programme, disbursing the first part of the second tranche of a $12 billion loan facility, and bringing the total disbursement released to date to just over $6 billion.

Terrorism, irregular migration.. two crucial challenges that need international efforts, and in which both Egypt and the European Union struggle to fight. Being on the same side in the fight against both challenges, Eu commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos assures the European Union commitment towards Egypt whom the EU consider as a strategic player to achieve peace and security in the region. You have visited Egypt more than once so how does the dialogue between the Egyptian and European sides help in creating a framework to face issues regarding migration and combating terrorism? Egypt is a strategic and crucial partner for the EU on many levels and plays a critical role in the stability and prosperity in the region.

Italian oil and gas company Eni said on Wednesday that it had begun producing gas from Egypt s giant offshore gas field Zohr, the Mediterranean s largest ever gas discovery. The mammoth gas field began production in record time, less than two-and-a-half years since its discovery in 2015, with potential gas reserves of 850bn m3, the company said on its website.

Egypt s defence and interior ministers have returned to Cairo after a visit to North Sinai during which an airport was targeted in a missile attack, the military said in a statement on Wednesday. The military published video footage early on Wednesday morning showing the two ministers stepping off a military aircraft.

Egypt says Arab countries are considering taking the Arab draft resolution on maintaining the status of Jerusalem to the United Nations General Assembly after the US vetoed the resolution at the Security Council on Monday. The failed resolution had demanded US President Donald Trump rescind his 6 December decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

After two days of heated discussion, Egypt s parliament finally approved with a two-thirds majority a government-drafted law on national health insurance on Monday. Minister of Health Ahmed Emadeddin said "the day parliament approved this law should be considered a historic day." "In December 2015, Minister of Finance [Amr El-Garhy] and I received orders from President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to draft a law that should pave the way for implementing a comprehensive national health insurance law in Egypt," Emadeddin said, adding that "today is a historic day as we were able to get the approval of MPs on this landmark law."

Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria reiterated on Sunday their support for the Libyan Political Agreement – signed in Skhirat in December 2015 – as a political solution for the country, just hours after it was declared expired and no longer binding by Gen. Khalifa Hafta, head of the Libyan National Army (LNA). In a joint press statement issued following tripartite talks held in the Tunisian capital on the security and political situation in Libya, Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry and his two North African counterparts – Tunisian FM Khemaies Jhinaou and Algerian FM Abdel Kader Messahel – said the Skhirat agreement is essential to acheiving a political solution.

The Support Egypt Coalition, a pro-government parliamentary coalition that controls 350 parliament seats, welcomed the visit of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to Egypt to address the Egyptian people in the House of Representatives. The coalition considered it an opportunity to improve relations between Egypt and Ethiopia regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, while some opposition MPs have refused the visit and continued to collect signatures refusing to receive Desalegn.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed with Italian interior minister Marco Minniti during a meeting in Cairo boosting Egyptian-Italian ties as well as the ongoing probe into the 2016 murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo, El-Sisis office said. El-Sisi and Minniti discussed "means to bolster ties between the two countries and exchanged views on international and regional issues of mutual interest," a statement by the Egyptian presidency said.

Egypt President Abdel-Fattah discussed in a Cairo meeting with EU Commissioner for Home and Migration Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos Egyptian efforts to curb illegal immigration, the presidency said on Saturday. El-Sisi expressed Egypt s desire to reinforce its relations with the EU in different fields, including in efforts to combat illegal immigration.

The Support Egypt Coalition, a pro-government parliamentary coalition that controls 350 parliament seats, welcomed the visit of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to Egypt to address the Egyptian people in the House of Representatives. The coalition considered it an opportunity to improve relations between Egypt and Ethiopia regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, while some opposition MPs have refused the visit and continued to collect signatures refusing to receive Desalegn.

Egypt s Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla said in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that extraction in the Zohr gas field, which is set to start in days, will see the country achieve self-sufficiency in the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) before the end of 2018. Egypt was a net exporter of LNG until 2014. However, it turned into a net importer in recent years due to a declining output and power shortages amid political turmoil.

Egypt’s aviation minister will travel to Russia to sign protocol agreements as early as Friday to allow the resumption of Russian flights that were suspended after the 2015 bombing of a tourist jet, Egyptian sources and Russia’s minister said on Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin met Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo this week to discuss resuming flights and to sign a deal for a nuclear power plant as part of growing bilateral cooperation.

A delegation from Russia s lower house of parliament – the Duma – arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for meetings with the Speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives Ali Abdel-Al and MPs aimed at enhancing bilateral relations, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported. The Russian delegation, which will be in Egypt for several days, consists of six members of parliament led by Vladimir Shamanov, chairman of the Duma s defence committee.

Work with establishing Egypt’s first nuclear reactor in the Dabaa nuclear power plant will start after Russian experts return to Egypt after Christmas holidays, informed sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Tuesday. Officials at Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) held a meeting on Tuesday with representatives of Russia’s state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom to discuss ways to initiate the construction of the first nuclear reactors.

The Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation has signed an agreement with the UK Department for Transport to supply Egypt with 12 bomb detection devices for airports in the country, the company said in a statement as reported by state news agency MENA on Tuesday. A cooperation agreement was signed between the company s chairman Mohamed Saeed Mahrous and the UK Department for Transport s Aviation Security Operations Director Kashif Chaudry.

The representative of the Egyptian side at the Egyptian-Russian Business Council Alaa Amin said that a feasibility study on establishing an Egyptian trade hub in Russia is set to be complete within two months, state-run MENA news agency reported. The logistical centre, which was first announced by Egypt s Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2016, is to serve as a hub to sell Egyptian products in Russia in parallel with Egyptian exports to the country.