The Egyptian parliament s legislative and constitutional affairs committee will begin holding national dialogue meetings on proposed amendments to the country s 2014 constitution on Wednesday. Sources said the dialogue was scheduled to begin on Monday and Tuesday, but it was postponed to Wednesday and Thursday as parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal and a number of leading MPs were attending the Arab-African Youth Forum in Aswan this week.

Speaking on Tuesday at the opening of the Portofolio Egypt 2019 conference held by private think tank Al-Mal-GTM under the title "Opportunities Blunted by Risks," Egypt s Minister of Public Business sector Hisham Tawfik promised a new era in investment for maximum returns. Minister Tawfik pointed out that the assets owned by the companies that fall under the ministry include real estate assets, equity owned by subsidiaries or joint ventures.

The Egyptian parliament s legislative and constitutional affairs committee will begin holding national dialogue meetings on proposed amendments to the country s 2014 constitution on Wednesday. Sources said the dialogue was scheduled to begin on Monday and Tuesday, but it was postponed to Wednesday and Thursday as parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal and a number of leading MPs were attending the Arab-African Youth Forum in Aswan this week.

Egypt has reached an initial deal with Japan s Nissan Motor to produce vehicles in Egypt with the aim of exporting, Public Enterprise Minister Hesham Tawfik said on Tuesday. The deal, signed in partnership with the government s Nasr Co for vehicle manufacturing, aims to produce 100,000 vehicles annually, increase the use of locally sourced components in vehicle production and export to other countries, the minister said.

Egyptian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Tarek Adel on Monday took part in a symposium on investment opportunities available in Egypt. He participated as the main speaker at the symposium organized by Arab-British Chamber of Commerce, shedding light on economic reforms implemented by Cairo.

Egypt s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has called for implementation of programmes to achieve integration without obstacles between Arab and African nations. The president was speaking at the Arab and African Youth Forum in Aswan during a session entitled “Nile Valley: The Pathway for Arab and African Integration."

US Charge d Affaires Thomas Goldberger visited the city of Minya this week to celebrate the Fulbright Commission s 70th year in Egypt. Goldberger and members of the embassy team met the president of Minya University, Dr. Mustafa Abdel-Nabi Abdel-Rahman, and his senior team, and attended a reception with students at the Minya University s Museum of Fine Arts.

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.