Polls reopened in several areas in Egypt on Sunday for the second and final voting day domestically for the new House of Representatives elections first stage, which are held amid strict preventive measures against the coronavirus pandemic. Poll stations reopened in 14 governorates at 9 am and will close at 9 pm.The National Election Authority (NEA) said it has not received complaints of violations related to the voting process on Saturday. The governorates included in the voting were Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, El-Wadi El-Gedid, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira and Matrouh.The results of the first round will be announced by 1 November at the latest. Many older people in the northern Beheira governorate were keen to participate in the elections to vote for their candidates. Beheira has more than nine constituencies and four million people who are entitled to vote in the House elections. As many as 214 candidates in the governorate are competing on 18 parliamentary seats.The first stage of run-offs will be held on 21-23 November for Egyptians abroad, and on 23-24 November at home. The final results will be declared on 30 November at the latest. The total number of eligible voters in Egypt is 63 million, out of a population of 100 million. The eligible voters in the first stage are estimated at nearly 33 million. The new House election is the second to be held in Egypt amid the coronavirus pandemic, the first being the Senate vote, which was held in August. Almost 4,000 individual candidates and eight coalition lists are competing over 568 seats in this election. A total of 284 seats will be up for grabs in the first stage, with half – 142 seats – allocated for individual candidates, and the other half for party lists. The second phase will see a first round on 7-8 November and run-offs on 7-8 December. The pro-government Mostaqbal Watan Party, which currently holds majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, is fielding 284 candidates, the largest number from any party. The party is contesting all 143 individual districts as well as the four party list districts in the race. The number of women running in this election has increased from previous times. The Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights says 627 women participate in the elections among a total of 4,006 candidates, representing 8.6 percent of candidates. The female candidates include 303 independent candidates, 280 others on list system and 44 candidates who are part of political parties.

Egypt s health ministry has reaffirmed the necessity of compliance with all anti-coronavirus safety measures in anticipation of a rise in infections with the advent of autumn and temperature drops. Minister of Health Hala Zayed met late Wednesday with a number of the ministry s senior officials via video conference, to follow up on implementation of the ministry s plan to cope with the spread of the coronavirus, especially amid the onset of a second wave of the virus in many countries. Zayed ordered all isolation, diagnosis and triage hospitals be ready to deal with the anticipated increase in coronavirus cases. The minister called on health officials to ensure that all medical supplies, oxygen devices and ventilators are available, as well as ensuring the readiness of intensive care units, and applying updated treatment protocols and infection control standards. She stressed to officials that the delivery of all necessary medications to home isolation Covid-19 patients be maintained. Minister Zayed also urged all citizens to avoid gatherings and maintain social distancing in public places, as well as wearing protective face masks. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly warned of an anticipated spike in the rate of infections with the advent of autumn. Egypt has registered 105,883 coronavirus cases, including 6,155 deaths since the outbreak in mid-February, with relatively low daily numbers reported over the past three months. Madbouly, however, ordered stricter enforcement of regulations which stipulate obligatory face masks in public spaces and on various modes of transportation.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi arrived in Nicosia on Wednesday to participate in a trilateral summit with Cyprus and Greece. Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said the trilateral summit is meant to consolidate the special ties between the three countries and exchange viewpoints regarding challenges that face the East Mediterranean region. The 8th tripartite summit is held amid tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean region over Ankara s hunt for gas in the region in violation of the territorial waters of Greece and Cyprus, two close allies of Egypt. Last week, Turkey said it will restart operations of a survey ship that it withdrew in September, further straining possibility of talks. The summit also aims at following up on the progress made by the previous seven trilateral summits and following up on joint projects implemented under the tripartite mechanism, Rady added. The previous summits, held since 2014, have mainly focused on bolstering joint cooperation in gas exploration and committing to maintaining the security and stability of the region, especially energy corridors. They also tackled cooperation to curb illegal migration. The summits culminated in the signing of several memorandums of understanding in the fields of investments, customs cooperation, education and small enterprises. Joint agreements were signed in tourism, maritime transport and fish farming. The tripartite summits led to the formation of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) in January 2019, establishing a vital platform that brings together gas producers, consumers and transit states to boost a sustainable regional market for gas. The forum’s members are Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Italy, and Jordan. The signing of the EMGF’s charter between the energy ministers of the six countries last month came amid angry response from Turkey over Egypt and Greece signing a maritime demarcation deal in August establishing an exclusive economic zone between the two countries.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is attending the graduation ceremony of students from military colleges and institutes at the Military Academy in Cairo. Graduates from the Military Academy, the Air Force Academy, the Naval Academy, the Military Technical College, the Air Defence Academy, and the Technical Institute for Military Forces are taking part in the event. Minister of Defence Mohamed Zaki, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, former interim-president Adly Mansour, heads of main branches of the armed forces, as well as a number of ministers and state officials are attending the ceremony. During the ceremony, students of the military academies presented tactical drills to showcase their fighting skills. They also stood in a formation in the shape of the number 47, to mark the 47th anniversary of Egypt s victory against Israel in the 6 October war.

Egypt’s National Election Authority (NEA) has set 140 polling stations in the country’s embassies and consulates in 124 countries for voting by Egyptian expats in the parliamentary elections’s first phase slated for this week. Voters abroad will be able to print their ballot papers for the elections’ first phase on Monday and Tuesday by entering their registration code on the authority’s website. They will be allowed to vote on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, where they will select several candidates from the individual list system depending on their electoral district’s seats, and one for selecting from the closed list system. Both ballot papers must be placed in envelopes with a voter declaration, photocopies of the voter’s national ID card or passport, and residency documents, and sent via express mail to the electoral committee of their country’s diplomatic mission. The first stage of the elections will cover 14 governorates between 21 October and 30 November. These include Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, New Valley, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, the Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira, and Marsa Matruh. A domestic vote will be held next Saturday and Sunday, with the results announced at the latest on 1 November. The first stage of elections’ run-offs will be held on 21-23 November for Egyptians abroad, and 23-24 November domestically with a final result at the latest on 30 November. A total of 568 seats are up for grabs in Egypt s upcoming parliamentary elections, while another 28 seats (5 per cent) will be named by the president, bringing the House s seats to a total of 596.

Following its election in August and September, Egypt s Senate will get down to business on Sunday by holding an opening procedural meeting. The meeting will be headed by Galal Haridi, a co-founder of the Guardians of the Nation Party, in his capacity as the Senate s most senior member. Two young members will also join Haridi in running the opening meeting. Haridi, 91, is a retired army officer who is widely considered as the founder of the Egyptian commandoes in 1955. He cofounded the Guardians of the Nation Party in 2013. The Senate s opening meeting will begin with reading out a number of decrees related to the formation of the second chamber. These will include president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi s two decrees on the Senate holding its opening meeting on 18 October and the naming of 100 appointees. The decrees issued by the National Elections Authority (NEA) on the invitation to and the results of the election of the Senate in August and September will be also read out. The above procedures will be followed by each of the chamber s 300 members taking the constitutional oath: "I swear by Almighty God that I do my best to preserve the republican system, respect the constitution and laws, fully observe the interests of the people, and preserve the independence, unity and integrity of the homeland." Members will then move to the next step, that is electing a speaker and two deputies in a secret ballot in line with article 4 of the Senate s law (141/2020). All members have the right to run for the three posts. Each hopeful candidate should take the floor and deliver a brief statement about his political background and experience and why he/she wishes to win the post. The Senate s opening meeting will be held at the headquarters of the Shura Council which was dissolved in 2013. Informed sources said the Mostaqbal Watan party, which holds the majority of seats in the Senate, is expected to nominate its head Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Razek, a former chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court, as the speaker of the Senate. Mahmoud Ismail Othman, the Senate s acting secretary-general, told reporters that once a speaker and two deputies are elected, a committee will be formed to draft the chamber s internal bylaws. "But right now, the internal bylaws of the House of the Representatives (law 1/2016) will be used to regulate the performance of the Senate," said Othman, adding that "it is the internal bylaws which will determine how many committees will be affiliated with the Senate." Once elected, the Senate s Speaker address the chamber, then will give the floor to Alaa Fouad, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, to congratulate members and express the government s intent to fully cooperate with the Senate in legislative and supervisory terms. Leading members representing political parties and independents are also expected to take the floor to deliver statements on the roles of the Senate. Informed sources said once the procedural session is finished, the Senate will adjourn until a new House of Representatives is elected at the end of December. Othman also indicated that all anti-coronavirus protection measures such sanitizing the chamber will be taken. Othman revealed that the Senate s secretariat-general will have 523 staff members who will be in charge of running the daily affairs of the chamber. According to Egypt s amended constitution in 2019, a 300-seat Senate shall be elected, with 100 members to be elected via the individual candidacy system; another 100 through party lists; and the remaining 100 to be appointed by the president of the republic. The Senate s law states that the chamber s main job is purely advisory – that is proposing and studying all that can reinforce democracy, social peace, human rights and public freedoms. The Senate should be consulted on proposed amendments to the constitution, the state s five-year development plans, alliance and peace treaties and laws which form an integral part of the constitution. Statistics on the Senate s election show that the pro-government Mostaqbal Watan party got the majority, with 147 seats (74 per cent). Independents come next with 85 seats. The People s Republican party got 19 seats, followed by Al-Wafd (11 seats); the Guardians of the Nation (10 seats); the leftist El-Tagammu (4 seats) and Modern Egypt (4 seats). Three political parties - the Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party, the Reform and Development Party, and the National Movement Party – got each three seats. The Salafist party of El-Nour got two seats. Five political parties – the Egyptian Freedom, Justice, the Republican, the Will of the Nation and Democratic Sadat – got each one seat. Statistics also show that the Senate comprises 40 women (20 by election and 20 by appointment) (13.3 per cent), six members representing professional syndicates and trade unions, two judges, two cinema actors, nine media people, 14 young people, 16 public figures, and twelve chairmen of political parties.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi reaffirmed on Wednesday the Egyptian constants regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), especially with regard to the resumption of tripartite negotiations to reach a binding and comprehensive legal agreement between all concerned parties regarding the rules for filling and operating the dam. El-Sisi s remarks came during a phone call he received from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the current chair of the African Union (AU), according to a statement by the Egyptian Presidency. Egypt s Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Rady said that the phone call dealt with the developments of the hydropower project, in light of the current mediation of the AU to the tripartite negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. The last round of AU-brokered trilateral talks on the near-complete mega-dam concluded in August without reaching an integrated draft agreement on the operation and filling of the dam Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile. During that last round of talks, the three countries technical and legal committees were scheduled to come up with a unified draft of their three proposals for an agreement to be submitted to Ramaphosa. They failed to reach a consensus, however, and agreed instead to send individual letters to Ramaphosa expressing their visions for the next stage of talks. El-Sisi, during the call, expressed Egypt s rejection of any action or procedure that violates Egypt s rights in the Nile waters, the statement noted. Ramaphosa, from his side, voiced his aspiration for the continuation of intensive coordination between the two countries during the coming period so as to work on resolving the current situation, and to reach a fair and balanced agreement on such a vital issue. The GERD, built 15 kilometres from the Ethiopian border with Sudan, has been a source of contention between the three countries since construction began in 2011. The first filling of the controversial dam took place this summer, despite not having reached an agreement with its downstream neighbours. Throughout the few previous rounds of talks, Addis Ababa had proposed a package of non-binding guidelines for the filling and operation of the mega-dam while the downstream countries Egypt and Sudan are seeking a legally binding deal on the filling and operation of the dam. Addressing the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly on 23 September, El-Sisi stressed that the GERD negotiation period "should not be extended indefinitely" in order to impose a status quo. The tripartite negotiations on GERD reached deadlock last year as did talks sponsored by the US and the World Bank in February. Cairo fears the massive hydropower project will significantly cut its crucial water supplies from the River Nile, while Sudan fears it could endanger the safety of its own dams. Ethiopia says the 6,000-megawatt dam is key to its development and hopes to become Africa’s biggest electricity exporter. The two leaders also discussed bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on various regional issues related to the AU, Rady said.

Maintaining the current situation on the ground in Libya, as per the declared lines, is the main goal in pursuit of a comprehensive solution to restore stability in the oil-rich country, Egypt s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi told the Jordanian foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, during a meeting in Cairo on Tuesday. El-Sisi said the desired solution should be based on the outcomes of the Berlin conference and the Cairo Declaration, an Egyptian peace initiative announced in June that proposed a ceasefire and the election of a leadership council. Libya, which has been divided between two rival administrations for six years, is currently witnessing a truce agreement between the warring parties after they declared a ceasefire. The declaration ended fears about possible aggression against the port city of Sirte, 370 kilometres east of the capital Tripoli and Jufra, which has a major military airbase. According to a statement released by the presidential spokesman Bassam Rady following the meeting, El-Sisi stressed the joint coordination, willpower, and unity of Arab stances would impose the outlines of the Arab national security. Egypt has been pushing for a political settlement in Libya and calling for a ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of militias, and a halt to foreign intervention in the country, as well as a fair distribution of wealth. In July, El-Sisi said Egypt “will not stand idle” in the face of any attack on Libya’s Sirte, which he earlier described as a “red line” for Egypt’s national security. During Tuesday s meeting, the two officials also assured the importance of intensifying the international efforts to settle the Palestinian crisis, drawing on international legitimacy decisions, Rady pointed out. The meeting, which was attended by the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, also dealt with bilateral relations between Egypt and Jordan, according to the statement. El-Sisi expressed hope for continuing coordination between the two countries at all levels amid the increased challenges the region is facing. Safadi expressed his country s keenness to continue coordination with Cairo at all levels in light of Egypt s role in the region, which he described as "significant and pivotal." The Jordanian minister arrived in Cairo earlier today to discuss several bilateral issues with a number of Egyptian officials, and to attend a trilateral meeting with his Egyptian and Iraqi counterparts to discuss topics of mutual concern.

In a meeting on Monday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Iraqi FM Fouad Hussein said that Egypt plays a “major role” in Baghdad’s foreign relations. Hussein, who arrived in the Egyptian capital a day earlier, met with a number of Egyptian officials including the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi earlier on Monday. Hussein and the Egyptian officials discussed a number of issued including electricity and gas-related projects, as well as the latest developments in the region, particularly the Palestinian cause and the situations in Syria and Libya. "We understand the challenges – [which we share] – and we are totally ready to cooperate to face these challenges," Shoukry added. Shoukry added that they also discussed challenges caused by terrorist groups as well as the negative impact of the interference of some countries in the Arab world. He also hailed the sacrifices made by the people of Iraq in its efforts to eliminate the Islamic State terrorist group, adding that these efforts have benefited the region as a whole. Shoukry said that an Egyptian ministerial delegation, which will include the minister of planning, will visit Iraq by the end of October. The Iraqi and Egyptian FMs discussed enhancing cooperation in the energy sector as well as commercial, security, military, cultural and educational relations. The talks also tackled a number of regional and international political issues, and Hussein affirmed that Iraq will continue to coordinate foreign policy issues with Egypt. Hussein said that by the end of October Iraq will receive Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to activate MOUs signed earlier between the two countries. The meeting between Shoukry and Hussein comes less than two months after El-Sisi met with Jordan s King Abdullah II and Iraq s Prime Minister Mostafa Al-Kadhimi in Amman, where El-Sisi had expressed Egypt s willingness to establish joint development projects with Iraq and Jordan within a strict timeframe. The summit, which was held in Amman on 25 August, addressed enhancing cooperation in all fields, especially in energy, power linkages, infrastructure, and food.

Egypt s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will give a speech on Monday at the 67th session of the World Health Organisation Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean, which is set to discuss key health issues, with the coronavirus pandemic at the top of the agenda, said the WHO in a statement. The session will be held virtually on 12–13 October due to the pandemic. WHO s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Ahmed Al-Mandhari will address the opening session. Health ministers and high-level representatives, from 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean region, will participate virtually in the session to discuss health issues, WHO said, adding that the session will also gather partner organisations and civil society groups. Ministers and representatives will review the coronavirus pandemic s evolution and current status in the region, including the response to the novel virus, the statement added. They will also review the direct impact of the pandemic on morbidity, mortality and essential health services.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has urged on Sunday awareness of "conspiracies that aim to undermine the country’s stability." In a televised talk during the Armed Forces 32nd cultural symposium, El-Sisi stressed the necessity of preserving the state, especially amid challenges and “new types of war”.

Egypt s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi received on Wednesday the Arab Development Action Shield award for the year 2020, a statement by the presidency said. President El-Sisi was handed the award by the Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Abu El-Gheit during Wednesday s meeting, which was attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, and Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki. The Arab Development Action Shield is an award that is given annually by the AL to Arab figures that led the development process in their countries. Abu El-Gheit hailed the comprehensive development approach led by El-Sisi in Egypt, which formed a model to be emulated throughout the rest of the Arab world, the statement said. According to Egypt s Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Rady, El-Sisi expressed his gratitude to the AL for this great honour. El-Sisi said, according to the statement, that this shield is dedicated to all Egyptians who have contributed, with their awareness and patriotism, to the success of the economic reform and the process of comprehensive development that is being carried out with Egyptian efforts and resources. The president also affirmed Egypt s support for the efforts of the AL to enhance cooperation between Arab countries, and its concerted efforts to support the development process in the Arab world in a way that meets the aspirations of their peoples and strengthens the spirit of joint solidarity.

Egypt s Transport Minister Kamel El-Wazir discussed with a delegation from Germany s Siemens progress in the project to modernise Egypt’s railway signalling system along the Banha-Port Said line. The project, implemented under an agreement signed between the Egyptian National Railways and the German technology giant in December 2015, aims at raising the safety level along the railway line passing through Benha, Zagazig, Ismailia, and Port Said, and the line connecting Zagazig and Abu Kebir. The upgrade plan is based on the installation of 21 main towers and 19 secondary towers. The German delegation told El-Wazir that Sharqia s Abu-Hamad station tower is expected to be operational before the end of October, while Benha s Sheblengah station is set to go into service by 2020. Siemens representatives said the rest of the towers are scheduled to be operational successively as per the underway electronic link system, according to a statement issued by the ministry following the meeting. El-Wazir underscored the necessity of intensifying work on this project, given its significance in increasing the safety a of trains, the statement added. The minister noted the project aims to renew the signalling system and set up a modern electronic system instead of the current mechanical interlockings system to increase safety, reduce the duration of trips, and increase the number of daily passengers and cargo trains. El-Wazir also said the upgrade targets maximising freight transport from Port Said. The statement added that the ministry is working on current and future ventures to modernise the signalling systems over 1,800km, and with a total cost of EGP 46.8 billion. Siemens has been operating in Egypt since 1859 with its technologies having been implemented in different areas across the country.

Egypt s National Elections Authority (NEA) announced on Monday night a final list of candidates for the House of Representatives elections slated to commence later this month. The list was announced after reviewing all rulings issued by the High Administrative Court concerning appeals filed by excluded candidates, the NEA said in a statement. The NEA set 7 October as the deadline for candidates to concede contested seats to opposing candidates, which such concessions to be published in any two widely circulated newspapers on 8 October. The elections are to take place over two stages between 21 October and 8 December. The first stage will cover 14 governorates and take place from 21 October to 30 November, while the second stage will cover 13 governorates and will take place from 4 November till 14 December. The 568-seat assembly will be filled by via the individual candidacy system and closed party lists system equally as per the recent amendments to the elections law.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry took part on Tuesday, on behalf of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, in the 6th virtual meeting of the AU Bureau of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government since the outbreak of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.

Egypt s presidential advisor for health affairs Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din has denied claiming that the seasonal influenza shot increases the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus. Tag El-Din made the statement after a voice message had been circulated where someone who sounds like the presidential advisor warns people against taking the flu vaccine. The person in the recording claimed that since the flu vaccine introduces a weakened form of the virus in order to build up antibodies, this could cause the immune system to ignore other contagions like the coronavirus. In remarks to Al-Hekaya on MBC Masr, Tag El-Din, who is also a pulmonologist, said the claims made in the message are “unscientific, illogical and baseless.” He added that the annual vaccine protects against the most prevalent seasonal viruses worldwide. The elderly, children, people suffering from chronic diseases in the respiratory system, heart or kidneys, or those suffering from immune system diseases, are strongly advised to get the flu vaccine, Tag El-Din said. He also added that the state is keen on having all medical staff take the vaccine to avoid contracting diseases and to be ready in the event of any emergency situation. Concerning a coronavirus vaccine, the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population announced on 12 September the start of clinical trials for a Chinese-developed vaccine. Health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said the vaccine, developed by the Chinese company Sinopharm, will be tested on 6,000 volunteers aged 18 to 60. Volunteers must be free of chronic diseases and are free to withdraw from the trial at any time. Late in September, Minister of Health Hala Zayed was administered with the Chinese vaccine.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi arrived in Kuwait on Thursday to offer his condolences for the death of its Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Egyptian Presidency announced. Sheikh Nawaf, 83, assumed power on Wednesday following the death of Sheikh Sabah, 91, on Tuesday. On Tuesday El-Sisi announced three days of mourning for the late emir.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi congratulated in a telegram Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for becoming the new emir of Kuwait, read a statement by the Egyptian Presidency. Sheikh Nawaf, 83, assumed power on Wednesday following the death of emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, 91, on Tuesday. “The Egyptian president, people, and government wish the best of success for his Highness Prince Nawaf Al-Sabah in continuing the efforts of construction and development achieved by late Sheikh Sabah,” the statement added. El-Sisi affirmed in his message the strong ties between Egypt and Kuwait, saying he looked forward for more bilateral cooperation for the benefit of their peoples and to serve the causes of the Arab and Islamic nations. The president wished the emir and his people progress, peace and prosperity. On Tuesday El-Sisi announced three days of mourning for the late emir in Egypt.

Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat met on Tuesday with the incoming group of military representatives at Egypt s diplomatic missions abroad, where she highlighted that the Ministry of International Cooperation is Egypt’s main door to strengthening economic cooperation with other countries and international organisations. During the meeting, Minister Al-Mashat said that the ministry is seeking to strengthen economic diplomacy through three principles: regularly organising multi-stakeholder platforms to ensure that all projects between development partners are streamlined and effectively coordinated; adopting a consistent Global Partnerships Narrative People & Projects & Purpose (P&P&P); and mapping development assistance financing for the sustainable development goals (SDGs) for all projects with multilateral and bilateral development partners. According to a statement issued by the international cooperation ministry, Al-Mashat explained that since the launch of the platform, the ministry has organised a number of workshops that saw the participation of over 100 development partners and other stakeholders in society in multiple sectors, especially health, agriculture, transportation and social protection. Through the platform, efforts have been coordinated between ministries and development partners to reach effective development cooperation in accordance with the 2030 national agenda and the UN’s sustainable development goals. “Egypt is seeking to achieve economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic to move forward in achieving the sustainable development goals, which requires redefining the social contract through cooperation with international development partners, countries, the private sector, civil society and academia,” said Al-Mashat. She also affirmed that the COVID-19 is a global humanitarian challenge, and that Egypt has shown strong resilience in facing challenges over the past decade.

Security and military delegations from the two rival authorities in Libya will meet in Egypt’s Red Sea city of Hurghada on Monday, with the aim of reaching a mutual ground and preparing for 5+5 military committee meetings. The delegations from the Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar in the East and the Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez Al Sarraj in the West will meet for the first time in five years in Egypt, under the auspices of the United Nations. Libya has seen years of violence since the ouster of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, with the GNA and the parliament in the east, elected in 2014, vying for power. A ceasefire was announced by the GNA and the Libyan parliament in separate statements in July. Egypt has been pushing for a political settlement in Libya and calling for a ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of militias and halt to foreign intervention in the country, as well as a fair distribution of wealth. In June, Egypt proposed a peace initiative dubbed the Cairo Declaration, which was based on the conclusion of the Berlin conference. It proposed a ceasefire and the election of a leadership council. A month later, the Egyptian parliament granted its approval for a potential deployment of the country’s armed forces abroad for the purposes of national security “in the strategic western direction against the work of armed criminal militias and foreign terrorist elements.” The decision came after President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi warned the country “will not stand idle” in the face of any attack on Libya’s Sirte, which he earlier described as a “red line” for Egypt’s national security.

Egypt s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi attended on Sunday the opening of hydrocracking complex project in Qalyubiya governorate, north of Cairo. El-Sisi said the complex s inauguration was delayed owing to the state of instability that followed the 2011 uprising. "The project stopped around ten years because of the state of instability and the state was deprived of economic gains," he stressed during the event. The inauguration was attended by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, a number of ministers and parliament speaker Ali Abdel Aal.