Egypt s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed on Monday with the Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn the ongoing preparations for holding a meeting of the EU-Egypt Association Council by the end of 2018. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 3rd Regional Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).

Egypt’s Balance of Payment (BoP) ran an overall surplus of $12.8 billion during fiscal year (FY) 2017-2018, compared to an overall surplus of $13.7 billion during the previous fiscal yea. The Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) statement on Monday explained that this sharp surplus is attributed to the currency devaluation decision from November 2016.

Egypt launched a pan-Asian roadshow to promote its international bonds in South Korea on Sunday, part of a bid to bring down rising yields on its debt, the finance ministry said. The non-deal roadshow that starts in Seoul aims to open up new bond markets for Egypt, the statement said. The government cancelled four consecutive local currency T-bond auctions last month after bankers and investors demanded high yields on the debt.

Cash transfers for all was how Philippe Van Parijs, a professor of politics and economics, explained the concept of basic income at a lecture at the American University in Cairo (AUC) last week. A basic income policy is a programme through which citizens of a country may receive a regular sum of money from a source such as the government, without strings attached, as their “basic income.”

Egypt s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly was witness Thursday to the signing ceremony of a project to support adaptation to climate change on the North Coast and in the Nile Delta. The ceremony was attended by Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aati, Minister of Environment Yassmin Fouad and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative Richard Dictus.

Petroleum Minister Tarek Al-Molla announced this week that Egypt will no longer import liquefied natural gas (LNG), saving the government the LE3 billion it earmarked annually to meet local demands. The savings are due, in large measure, to the Zohr gas field which began output in December 2017. Zohr, with reserves of more than 30 trillion cubic feet (tcf), is among the largest gas fields discovered so far in the Mediterranean.

The Egyptian cabinet approved a soft loan agreement between Egypt and the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) to assist in financing the construction of the Bahr El-Baqar Water Drainage System Project. The approval of the loan, worth 70 million Kuwaiti dinars (EGP 4.1 billion), came during a meeting Tuesday night chaired by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

Egypt s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will start a two-day visit to the Japanese capital Tokyo on Wednesday to attend the ministerial meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), scheduled for 6 and 7 October, Egypt s foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Hafez said. Shoukry will also meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other Japanese officials to discuss boosting bilateral cooperation and regional issues of common interest.

Egypt s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla said on Tuesday at the Arab Energy Forum in Marrakech that Egypt would continue to cut energy subsidies to reduce government expenditures while boosting energy efficiency. The minister said that energy subsidies represented a burden to the country s budget and drained finances that could otherwise be spent on improving social services.

Egypt s current account deficit for the 2017-18 financial year that ended in June narrowed by 58.6 percent to $6 billion, the central bank said on Monday. The central bank attributed the drop in the deficit to the impact of currency liberalisation. Egypt let its pound float in late 2016 as part of an IMF-backed economic reform programme.

Egypt sold EGP 904 million ($50.6 million) worth of three- and seven-year treasury bonds on Monday after cancelling sales for four successive weeks, the central bank said. The three-year bonds carried an average yield of 18.432 percent while the seven-year bonds carried an average yield of 18.431 percent, bank data showed.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is set to open on Monday the first Arab Forum for Special Schools held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Shiekh, said Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement. The forum, which will conclude 4 October, will be attended by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, and Jordan, Minister of Education Tarek Shawki said on Saturday, while hailing the presence of El-Sisi, highlighting the president s attention to people with special needs.

Egypt is set to start on Monday the largest health campaign under the directive of the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, which aims to eradicate hepatitis C across the nation as part of the administration s strategic 2020 plan. In a press conference held on Sunday by Minister of Health Hala Zayed, the first phase of the "100 million healthy lives" campaign is expected to be launched on Monday in nine Egyptian governorates.

Egypts finance ministry intends to auction treasury bonds at a total value of EGP 498.750 billion during the second quarter (October-December) of the fiscal year 2018-2019. In an online statement on Sunday, the ministry said it will be selling 91, 182, 273 and 364-day bonds at EGP 125.250 billion, EGP 123.5 billion, EGP 110.750 billion and EGP 121.5 billion respectively.

Egyptian Preident Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on Thursday to discuss efforts to revive the Middle East peace process, a presidential spokesman said. During the talks, El-Sisi stressed the "importance of resuming negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides with a view to reaching a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue based on the two-state solution and relevant international reference points," El-Sisi s spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has assured Italy s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte that the government is committed to finding the truth in order to bring to justice those responsible for the death of an Italian student in Cairo in 2016. The two leaders met on Wednesday in New York on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed potential cooperation projects to upgrade the fleet of the country s flag carrier EgyptAir with Marc Allen, the president of Boeing, during talks in New York on Wednesday, a presidential spokesman said. El-Sisi and Allen also looked at ways to bolster Egypt s defense fleet, spokesman Bassam Rady added.

Egypt s irrigation ministry says that no concrete results were reached during talks between Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel-Aty and his Ethiopian and Sudanese counterparts on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. In an official statement published by the state-owned MENA news agency, Egypt s irrigation ministry said that despite the lack of progress, the three countries reiterated their commitment to continuing talks soon to reach an agreement that is satisfactory for all sides on the filling of the dam s reservoir in accordance with the declaration of principles signed in 2015.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed to US President Donald Trump the importance of continued joint Egyptian-American cooperation to eradicate terrorism during their meeting in New York Monday on the sidelines of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). In an official statement, Egyptian Presidency Spokesman Bassam Rady said the US President praised Egypt s successful efforts in firmly confronting the dangers of terrorism, and added the country is both at the forefront in the fight against terrorism and a central partner in this war.

Egypt s irrigation and water resources minister flew to Ethiopia on Tuesday to participate in a tripartite meeting with his Sudanese and Ethiopian counterparts, where they will resume negotiations on the technical issues surrounding the construction of the Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam (GERD). In an official statement, Egyptian Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel-Ati said that Egypt s participation in the meeting is to advance joint studies – in accordance with the agenda of the Tripartite Commission of experts – to determine the impact of the dam on Egypt s share of the Nile.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has had a busy schedule meeting with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, as well as members of the American Chamber of Commerce and heads and senior representatives of leading US companies operating or desiring to operate in the Egyptian market. El-Sisi s meetings come on the sidelines of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly, which kicked off on Tuesday.