Canada has ended a ban on belly cargo on direct passenger flights from Egypt following a more than two-year suspension over security concerns, Egypt s Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil said in a statement on Wednesday. The decision to lift the ban followed a visit by a technical delegation of the Canadian transport ministry to inspect logistics and security measures on direct cargo flights to the Canadian city of Toronto, Kabil said.

Egypt will discuss with Russia the resumption of Russian charter flights to the Egyptian tourist resorts of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada, nearly one week after both countries resumed flights between their capitals. The recent flight resumption came after a 30-month ban by Moscow of flights between the two countries after a Russian airliner crashed in Sinai in 2015.

Spokesman for the Petroleum Ministry Hamdy Abdel Aziz said that the government aims to increase domestic production of petroleum products and to gradually lift petroleum products’ subsidies to sell petroleum at its cost price. Abdel Aziz said in a phone-in with ‘Al Hayat Al Youm’ program on ‘Al Hayat Channel’ that the current prices, which have been imposed since June 2017, cover 70 percent of the cost price of petroleum. He referred to the government’s announcement in 2015 of a plan to gradually lift petroleum subsidies.

Egypt s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry spoke with US Secretary of State John Sullivan by telephone on Monday, discussing the latest developments in Syria, including US-led airstrikes on Syrian government targets, the Egyptian foreign ministry has announced. According a ministry statement, Shoukry presented Egypt s evaluation of the military latest escalation in Syria, which saw the US, France and Britain launch missiles at Syrian government targets last Saturday in response to alleged chemical weapons use in Syria.

Egypt’s Education Minister Tarek Shawki said on Monday that the new education system will be applied to kindergartens and first grade classes in September and will include new curricula, assessment methods and exams, and that the rest of the existing grades will be developed in parallel. “We have a 60-day implementation plan from April 20 to implement the new educational system, as the ministry is racing to complete the enforcement of the new education strategy,” Shawki said during a press conference on Monday.

Between Barack Obama and Donald Trump, it s "definitely President Trump" who got U.S. foreign policy right in the Middle East, according to Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris. "I think what we re seeing today is the product of Obama s rule," Sawiris told CNBC s Hadley Gamble in Abu Dhabi on Monday. He claimed that Russia gained ground in Syria as a result of inaction by the Obama administration, which also allowed extremists in the Middle East to thrive.

Egypt s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended on Monday the conclusion of the Gulf Shield military drills, in which Egypt is participating along with 24 other Arab and Muslim countries The seven-day military exercise was held in eastern Saudi Arabia under the auspices of King Salman Bin Abdel-Aziz.

Egypt s Suez Canal revenues rose to $463 million in March from $435.8 million in February, local financial newspaper Al-Borsa reported on Monday. The canal s revenues for the first quarter of 2018 rose by 12.9 percent year-on-year to reach $1.351 billion, the newspaper said.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Sunday that Arab countries are facing unprecedented threats, while criticising regional states that aim to increase their influence in Arab countries. Speaking at the Arab Summit held in Saudi Arabia, El-Sisi said that Arab countries are facing the "most serious crisis since their independence" from occupation, citing attempts to interfere in Arab countries as well as setbacks in efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Egyptian MPs approved on Sunday a new 23-article law aimed at regulating the National Council of Women (NCW), bringing it in line with the 2014 constitution and international conventions signed by Egypt, according to a report prepared by parliament s social solidarity committee. “The law was primarily drafted to go in line with Articles 11 and 53 of the constitution, which state that men and women are equal in terms of civilian, political, economic, social and cultural rights, that citizens are equal before the law regardless of religion, gender, colour, and language, and that the state will take all measures necessary to eliminate all forms of discrimination in society,” the report said.

Cairo International Airport authorities denied an American diplomat entry to Egypt on Saturday as he did not have an Egyptian visa. The US diplomat arrived from Dubai carrying a diplomatic passport, but it did not have an Egyptian visa. So, in conformity with the equal treatment principles, airport authorities could not let him in.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi praised on Thursday growing cooperation between Cairo and Lisbon as he received his Portuguese counterpart in the Egyptian capital, in the first such visit by a Portuguese president in more than two decades. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and El-Sisi held "constructive talks" in which they discussed cooperation between the two countries over the past two years, El-Sisi told a press conference broadcast live on state television.

The Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy denied news reports claiming new hikes in electricity prices, dismissing them as mere speculation. The ministry said in a statement that it is keen to adhere to the policy of transparency in dealing with the public, adding that the Electricity Minister will hold a press conference after the adoption of new prices by the Cabinet.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Cypriot foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides have agreed to bolster energy cooperation as well as economic and trade ties during talks in Cairo on Wednesday, Egyptian and Cypriot officials have said. El-Sisi highlighted Cairo s "keenness to bolster ties with Cyprus in all fields and praised ongoing tripartite cooperation with Greece, namely in energy in the Eastern Mediterranean," Egypt s presidency spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will inaugurate within days the Middle East’s largest cement pant, opening in the Beni Suef governorate on the Eastern Desert Road. The Armed Forces Engineering Authority began to make the finishing touches to the opening of the plant in April, and the factory was inspected by the head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority Kamel al-Wazir to follow-up the final touches, in preparation for its opening.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan arrived in Cairo on Tuesday ahead of a scheduled meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Egypt s state TV said. The state TV website quoted El-Sisi s office spokesman Bassam Rady as saying Al-Nahyan would meet El-Sisi at the start of a two-day visit to Egypt, but he gave no further details.

Egypt’s General Authority for Free Zone and Investment (GAFI) was selected on Tuesday the regional director of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) for the Middle East and North Africa. GAFI had been selected for the same post in 2006 when Ziad Bahaa al-Din presided over the authority. Members of the steering committee of WAIPA voted for Egypt after it competed with the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority, the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority, the Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency, the Lebanese Investment Development Authority, and the Tunisian Investment Promotion Agency.

Egypt s Minister of Transport Hisham Arafat has announced a project to revamp the national railway network, with EGP 55 billion to be invested up to 2022. During a surprise visit to Giza railway station on the Sham El-Neseem holiday, Arafat told reporters that Egypt has “a clear and comprehensive plan to develop all aspects of the railway system, whether in infrastructure, tractors, train carriages and signals,” Al-Ahram Arabic news website.

Egypt will raise up to 2 billion euro with its planned dual-tranche bond, which is expected to price later on Monday, a document from one of the banks arranging the debt offering showed. The debt sale - Egypt s first public bond denominated in euro - received orders in excess of 7.2 billion euro, split evenly across the proposed eight-year and 12-year tranches.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry affirmed on Friday in the wake of a meeting held in Sudan to reach a compromise between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), that consultations had not produced significant results that could be announced. All outstanding issues were discussed, Shoukry said in a press statement after the 16-hour meeting, including ways to implement the instructions issued by the leaders of the three countries regarding a path out of the stalemate in negotiations regarding technical impacts

The economic reforms in Egypt are starting to bear fruit, with the domestic deficit shrinking by 67 percent in the current fiscal year, Bloomberg said. The victory of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the election is expected to pave the way for further economic reforms, Bloomberg added.