Egypt s agriculture ministry is planning to grow 1.1 million acres of rice in 2019, up from 800,000 acres the previous year, in a bid to increase local production of the staple crop using available resources, a spokesman said. Egypt slashed cultivation of the water-intensive crop in 2018 to preserve water resources as Ethiopia prepares to fill the reservoir of a giant dam project it is building upstream on the Rive Nile, which Cairo fears could cut the country s water supply.

Ministry of Justice and the Higher Committee for Legislative Reform have referred the final draft of the law to establish the Fund for Caring for Egyptians Abroad to the ministerial cabinet on Wednesday for approval before submitting the bill to the State Council for revision. Senior sources revealed that representatives from Ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Labor Force would manage the fund.

Egypt s civil aviation ministry said on Wednesday that it is barring all Boeing Co 737 MAX planes from its airspace and airports after a crash in Ethiopia that killed 157 people. Sunday s crash, which claimed the lives of six Egyptians among the casualties, was the second since October involving this Boeing model.

Egypt s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Tuesday afternoon in Cairo with Sudanese first vice president and minister of defence Awad Ibn Auf and Sudanese chief of national security Salah Abdallah Gosh, the Egyptian intelligence announced. The Sudanese officials discussed with the Egyptian president ways to boost bilateral relations as well as recent developments in the region.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said that Egypt looks forward to promoting economic and commercial relations with Japan via promising investment opportunities in the Egyptian market in various sectors. During a meeting with the chairman of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) Hiroyuki Ishige, El-Sisi reiterated that Egypt is keen on direct interaction with Japanese businessmen to review Egypt s capabilities, including trained labor and the free trade agreements inked with Arab, African and European countries.

The Egyptian Embassy in Addis Ababa is following up with Ethiopian authorities to recover the bodies of the six Egyptians on the fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash, said Yasser Mahmoud Hashim, Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs and Egyptian Expatriates. All 157 people on-board, including eight crew members and a number of senior international environmental officials, were killed in the crash.

Egyptian MPs approved in a plenary session on Sunday the appointment of Kamel El-Wazir, the former head of the army s Engineering Authority, as the new minister of transport. "The appointment came hours after former transport minister Hesham Arafat resigned following a tragic Cairo train crash on 27 February, leaving 22 dead and dozens injured," said parliament Speaker Abdel-Aal, adding that "the appointment goes in line with the constitution and parliament s internal bylaws, which state that the president is authorised to make cabinet reshuffles or name new cabinet ministers, only after consultation with the government and approval by parliament."

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stated during the 30th Cultural Symposium of the Armed Forces on Sunday that protests and riots against the state represent a very serious issue for the security of Egypt, while also praising the completion of large development projects. He explained that these protests in Egypt since 2011 are a “very strict” operation aimed at destroying and overthrowing the state.

Six Egyptians were reportedly killed on board the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed near Addis Abba on Sunday, according to Ethiopian Airlines, which has released more information about the passengers. The Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on Sunday after taking off from Bole International Airport on its way to Nairobi. The crash killed all 149 passengers and eight crew members, according to Ethiopian authorities.

Egypts Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait told MPs Sunday that the IMFs 12-billion dollar loan was divided into six tranches. “Egypt has so far been successfully able to meet the conditions for five tranches, and there is still one last tranche which will be a matter of review by the IMF at the end of this year,” Maait said, adding that “all the previous stages of the IMF-inspired economic reform programme were completely implemented on time and without any delay.”

Egypt s Finance Minister Mohamed Maait stressed on Thursday that his ministry seeks to lower public debt to 80 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2022. It also seeks to reduce the total budget deficit to 7 percent of the GDP during the 2019/20 fiscal year. The minister s remarks came after Egypt achieved last year the first budget surplus in 15 years, amounting to 0.2 percent.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) excluded imports of rice, beans and lentils from the 100 percent cash cover granted on import orders for one year. In a statement, the bank said the exemption from full import payments in advance will continue until 15 March 2020.

Foreign investors held $15.8 billion of Egyptian treasury bills and bonds at the end of February, the finance minister said on Wednesday, up from $13.1 billion in January. Foreign holdings of Egyptian treasuries stood at $23.1 billion at the end of March 2018 and $17.5 billion at the close of the last fiscal year which ended in June.

Egyptian parliament Mohamed Fouad submitted a draft bill with the House of Representatives to amend Law No. 103 for 1961 on re-organizing Al-Azhar and its affiliated institutions in order to further encourage gender equality. The draft amendments suggest that women be represented by no less that 25 percent of the members in the Senior Scholars Authority of Al-Azhar, which is a 40-member body.

A human rights delegation comprised of two NGOs is set to participate in ‎the upcoming 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, which was launched on 27 February and will run till 26 March. The delegation aims to clarify facts to the international community about the situation in Egypt. Members of the delegation include Said Abdel-Hafez, representing the Forum for ‎Development and Human Rights Dialogue (Moltaka), and Aida Nour, from the Women and Development ‎Association.‎

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) gave the green light to four banks to go forward with issuing Aman life insurance certificates in line with directives of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. In a statement on Tuesday, the CBE said the four banks are the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Banque Du Caire and Agriculture Bank of Egypt.

Egypt s foreign reserves rose by $1.4 billion by the end of February 2019 to reach $44.06 billion, compared to $42.6 billion by the end of January 2019, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said on Monday. Egypt s foreign currency reserves have been witnessing continuous increases since 2014; registering $37 billion in 2017, $24.3 billion in 2016, $16.4 billion in 2015, and $15.3 billion in 2014.

Egypt s Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Monday the total number of those examined since the “100 million healthy lives” initiative was launched is estimated at 32.5 million citizens covering 27 governorates till now. Zayed, in press statements on Monday, said 1.6 million citizens were screened in the seven governorates included in the third stage till yesterday. The initiative aims at eliminating Hepatitis C in Egypt. Zayed lauded performance of all medical teams taking part in the initiative.

Egypt s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi welcomed on Sunday current cooperation between Egypt and the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO) to facilitate the planning of energy infrastructure in Egypt and conduct studies on renewable energy technology. The president made the remarks during a meeting with GEIDCO Chairman Liu Zhenya in the presence of Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker.